One of President Donald Trump‘s first orders of business on Monday was to put abortion policies rescinded by Barack Obama back into place. The policy, known as the “Mexico City” abortion rule despite having nothing to do with Mexico City, was first signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1985. Since then, it’s gone on and off the books a number of times, being rescinded by Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and reinstated by George W. Bush, and now Trump.
According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Mexico City rules state that foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive money from USAID cannot perform or promote abortions as a family planning method. Exceptions are allowed in cases of rape, incest, or when someone’s life is at risk. The policy got its name because it was first announced at a UN conference in Mexico City.
When President Obama rescinded the Mexico City rule in 2009, he called the policy “unnecessarily broad and unwarranted under current law,” and said that it “undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries.”
[Image via screengrab]
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