Joe Biden has expressed commitment to reversing the Mexico City Policy, also known as the “global gag rule,” which bars U.S. federal funding from going towards NGOs that provide abortion services, advocate for reproductive rights, or expand abortion and contraceptive services.
The Mexico City Policy was first implemented by Ronald Reagan’s administration, and has been continuously rescinded and re-implemented as the executive branch of the United States shifts between the Republican and Democratic parties. By expanding the Policy, Trump made it even harder for organizations to receive federal funding: under past Republican administrations the policy applied solely to U.S. based organizations, but Trump’s expanded it to apply to foreign or foreign-based organizations that receive U.S. federal funding. The effects of this were clear: for example, an Ethiopia-based clinic for teens closed down after losing U.S. aid, and efforts to integrate HIV testing and family planning in Kenya failed, and initiatives to spread information about reproductive health in nepal unraveled. Thus, the Mexico City Policy not only affects the abortion rights of people across the globe, but is also detrimental to initiatives seeking funding to combat AIDS/HIV, child pregnancies, and improve sex education since NGOs lose funding altogether if they provide or advocate for contraceptive services.
During Biden’s Democratic primary campaign, a spokesperson stated “Yes, Biden will use executive action on his first day in office to withdraw the Mexico City ‘global gag rule,” laying a foundation for Biden’s seemingly progressive stances on women’s and reproductive rights. Other expected changes under the Biden-Harris administration are the repealing of the Helms Amendment, which prohibits American foreign aid from paying for abortions, and the restoration of U.S. funding to the UN Population Fund. As Zara Ahmed of the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research group, said, rescinding the “global gag rule is the tip of the iceberg.” Further, the Global Health, Empowerment and Rights (HER) act, which would permanently repeal the Mexico City Policy, was introduced to Congress in 2019, and many hope it will pass under the Biden-Harris administration.
We can anticipate responses to such actions to vary, since more and more Americans are now advocating for women’s rights, but conservative groups and legislators are likely to meet Biden’s plan with contempt. The new administration’s stance on reproductive rights will certainly differ from those of the Trump’s current government, which signed the Geneva Consensus Declaration, formally rejecting abortion as a right, just two months ago.
For further reading on the steps the Biden-Harris administration can take to reverse the effects of Trump’s policies against reproductive health, see this article by Vox: Biden can do 3 things on day one to unwind Trump’s war on reproductive health
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