President Joe Biden has reversed a ban by the previous administration on aid to international aid organizations that inform or perform the abortion. While ending the ban, he said that the reversal of the Mexico City Policy ends Trump’s attack on women to quality health care.
The new memo orders a review of the Trump administration’s policy blocking funds to American clinics that offer abortion referrals as well. Additionally, Biden also issued an edict expanding the Obamacare insurance program. While talking to the media on Thursday, President addressed the criticism that he was ruling by executive orders rather than congressional approvals and said, “I’m not initiating any new law, any new aspect of the law.”
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In 1984, then-President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, initiated the Mexico City Policy. Over the years, it has been continuously extended by Republican presidents and called by Democrats. Even though for the past few decades the US law barred money from being spent on abortions abroad, the Mexico City Policy was a step forward. It stopped the federal funding to aid groups and organizations that provide abortion, counseling, or even legal aid to advocate for the right to abortion.
However, under the Trump administration, the law was expanded and banned the funding to non-government organizations that provide funding for local and international abortion groups. Earlier, the White House spokesperson said in a statement that Biden was issuing an executive order “to support women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights in the United States, as well as globally”. Last year, the US Accountability Office found out that because many abortion groups choose not to cut back on their programs, several NGOs were unable to collect almost $153 million.
Besides that, Biden has ordered the US Health Department to remove the Trump administration’s ban on family planning program for a low-income household in America, commonly known as Title X. In a separate order, he also removed the US from Geneva Consensus, a non-binding charter of as many as thirty countries that oppose abortions.
