President Trump on Friday took a pair of actions to limit U.S. government funding for abortions, reversing some of the Biden administration’s efforts to increase access to the procedure.
Trump signed a memorandum to reinstate the Mexico City policy, which bans global health aid for foreign organizations that provide or promote abortions.
The policy was first introduced during the second Reagan administration and has been rescinded by every Democratic president and reinstated by every Republican president since then. Trump previously restored the policy four days into his first term before President Biden rescinded it again a week into his own.
Trump also signed an executive order aimed at enforcing the Hyde Amendment, which has banned the use of any federal dollars on abortions since 1977. The order also rescinds a pair of Biden administration actions intended to expand access to abortion services after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The moves were first reported by RealClearPolitics.
Trump signed both measures on the same day as the March for Life, an annual gathering of anti-abortion activists on the National Mall. Trump addressed the rally by video message, while Vice President JD Vance spoke in person.
“With this action the president is getting American taxpayers out of the abortion business and restoring sanity to the federal government,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement. “This is a big win for babies and mothers, and it reflects the will of the majority of Americans who strongly oppose bankrolling the abortion industry at home and abroad.”
The Biden administration took a series of executive actions to try and increase access to abortion and reproductive health care after the Supreme Court in June 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade. Democrats made abortion rights central to their 2024 campaign messaging, warning that Trump would enact restrictions on access to the procedure.
Trump attempted to portray himself as a moderate on the issue, arguing abortion laws should be left to the states and criticizing some measures as too harsh. But he also repeatedly took credit for appointing three conservative justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.
