Donald Trump wasted no time Monday resurrecting the "global gag rule," which cuts off federal funds to international organizations offering family planning information that includes abortion. Amanda Terkel writes:
The Mexico City policy, also known as the global gag rule, was first put in place by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. It prohibits giving U.S. funding to nongovernmental organizations that offer or advise on a wide range of family planning and reproductive health options if they include abortion ― even if U.S. dollars are not specifically used for abortion-related services.
Since then, the gag rule has been something of a political football, rescinded and reinstated as soon as presidents take office. President Bill Clinton did away with the rule, President George W. Bush reinstated it and then President Barack Obama again revoked it in 2009.
The U.S. dispenses about $600 million a year to international organizations that counsel women on reproductive health issues. But such a ban ultimately shuts down many organizations.
The Guttmacher Institute and other opponents of the gag rule say that such restrictions have devastating effects on international organizations, often forcing them to close their clinics or reduce their services, denying women access to help from safe providers and even hampering HIV prevention efforts.
Trump signed this order and he's fully responsible for it, but this is fully Mike Pence's Christian conservative crusade against abortion regardless of who suffers and evidence about what actually works.