The so-called Mexico City Policy, also referred to as the global gag rule by its opponents, would restrict foreign nongovernmental organizations that receive U.S. funding from performing, counseling or providing information on abortions.
It was first introduced during the second Reagan administration and has been rescinded by every Democratic president and reinstated by every Republican president since.
Trump restored the policy four days into his first term before former President Biden rescinded it again a week into his own. He renamed it “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance” and expanded it to apply to most federal global health funding rather than just family planning funding.
Reproductive health advocates fear Trump could further expand the policy to almost all U.S. foreign assistance, pointing to what The Heritage Foundation recommended in Project 2025 as evidence of what is to come.
Aside from abortions, Trump could also withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization (WHO), repeating a move he tried in his first term.
But while it can be done without Congress, the withdrawal from the organization requires a one-year notice; Trump lost the 2020 election before the period ended.
Trump repeatedly assailed WHO, alleging bias toward China, and used it as a scapegoat for his own administration’s pandemic response.
Ending U.S. membership would cause the organization to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, and the U.S. would lose access to WHO resources.
