The U.S. State Department has released a report that reveals only four of 733 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have refused to comply with President Donald Trump’s pro-life policy that stops taxpayer funding and promotion of abortion overseas.
In order to receive U.S. funding, the NGOs must agree not to provide or promote abortion – even with funds not coming from the United States.
During a background briefing on the report on Wednesday, a senior administration official responded to a question from a reporter asking about the NGOs that have not agreed to the new rules.
“Both Marie Stopes and International Planned Parenthood Foundation have made public comments,” the official said. “Consequently, those are obviously on record already.”
At the start of his presidency last year, Trump reinstated what is known as the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits NGOs that receive U.S. funds from providing or promoting abortions overseas. The policy also bans these organizations from advocating for the passage of pro-abortion laws in other countries.
Trump updated the policy – called Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) – by directing the Secretary of State to expand it across all global health assistance funding. This means that U.S. taxpayer dollars are not supporting organizations that promote or participate in the management of a coercive abortion program. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), for example, is one such organization, with its long history of supporting China’s one-child population control program, an agenda that has included forced abortions.
The abortion industry refers to the Mexico City Policy as the “Global Gag Rule.”
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) said it “refused to sign the order.”
“By refusing to sign the order, we are forecasted to lose $100 million in funding over the next three years,” the organization states.
According to its 2016 annual report, IPPF performed more than one million abortions in that year, which represents an increase of 13.5 percent over 2015. The organization also received more than $27 million in U.S. government grants in 2015-2016, and reported a 12 percent increase in income and a net operating surplus of $7.6 million in 2016.
Marie Stopes International – which provides abortions and contraception to women all over the world – says its refusal to sign onto Trump’s pro-life policy has left it with “a funding gap of nearly $80 million.”
Marie Stopes Vice-President and Director of External Affairs Marjorie Newman-Williams said:
We have been deeply moved by the support and donations we have received over the past year and we are doing everything in our power to mitigate the impact of this policy. However, unless we can fill the $80m gap created by the Global Gag Rule, it will deprive millions of women of the contraception they need to prevent an unintended pregnancy, and it is the world’s poorest women and girls who will bear the brunt.
The national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) praised the State Department’s report.
“The overwhelming 99.5% compliance rate shows that the dire prognostications of abortion advocates have not come true,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser.
She continued:
The Trump administration’s pro-life policy has not reduced foreign assistance by a dime, but instead ensures that U.S. international aid partners act consistently to save lives, rather than promoting and performing abortion. Only a tiny minority of extreme pro-abortion groups has stubbornly refused to put the wellbeing of all women ahead of their agenda. The funds they forfeited have gone to worthy providers who respect the life, dignity, and values of women and families worldwide, as well as the will of American taxpayers. We thank President Trump for this life-affirming policy.
Similarly, Michael Anthony Mapa, Chairman of Filipinos for Life, posted to Facebook that he is grateful to Trump for reinstating the Mexico City Policy.
“The U.S. Government should not be spending precious taxpayer dollars to promote the killing of babies around the world,” he said. “That is a crime against humanity. I’m glad that President Trump is putting an end to federal funds to promote it.”
Carmel Nisha Pius Franco, Director of Uyirkkural – or “Voice of Life” – said in a statement to SBA List, “Indian women need life, dignity, education and empowerment, not abortion.”
She continued:
We have been exploited through decades-long population control propaganda which has resulted in at least 300 million abortions (16 million abortions being performed in India in just one year) and dangerous sub-replacement fertility rate. Americans do not want their hands in the blood of innocent children killed in India. Yes, we need to deal with development issues, but not by killing our children. Thanks to President Trump for setting things right because we believe in one nation under God, which would be a beacon of hope amidst moral calamity, not the nation which promotes death.
SBA List provides further information about IPPF:
IPPF targets “poor and vulnerable” populations, stating, “84 percent of all IPPF’s services [in 2016] were delivered in countries identified by the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index as having low or medium levels of human development.” IPPF actively lobbies against pro-life policies and in favor of abortion on-demand around the world; the organization boasts that in 2016, it “contributed to 175 changes in policy or legislation.”
Marie Stopes says abortion is at the core of its mission. Its staff has been caught on tape boasting about providing illegal abortions around the world.
In December 2016, Marie Stopes UK branch was forced to temporarily suspend abortion services for children and vulnerable populations due to serious safety concerns.
Additionally, Marie Stopes advocates for overturning abortion laws in pro-life countries.
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