Vice President JD Vance on Friday mentioned the Trump administration is expanding the so-called Mexico City Policy, to not solely bar US authorities funding for organizations that carry out and promote abortions, but additionally to these the administration says promote variety, fairness and inclusion and “gender ideology.”
His announcement got here on the annual March for Life rally in Washington, DC, the place the vp sought to allay fears from the anti-abortion motion that the Trump administration has not completed sufficient on the problem.
“We’re going to start blocking every international NGO that performs or promotes abortion abroad from receiving $1 of US money,” Vance mentioned. “Now we’re expanding this policy to protect life, to combat DEI and the radical gender ideologies that prey on our children.”
The Trump administration has made a crackdown on so-called DEI insurance policies and applications a cornerstone of its agenda. And this week’s announcement marks a major enlargement of the Mexico City Policy, known as the “Global Gag Rule” by its critics. Established underneath President Ronald Reagan, the policy has been constantly rescinded by Democratic administrations and reinstated by Republican ones.
The expanded policy, in accordance to an administration official, “applies to not only foreign NGOs, but also international organizations and US NGOs.”
The official mentioned the enlargement “goes beyond $8 billion in global health to cover more than $30 billion in foreign assistance.”
Vance’s remarks — and a pre-recorded video message from President Donald Trump wherein he touted his judicial appointments — come because the administration faces pressure from social conservatives to do extra to restrict entry to remedy abortion. That features a looming deadline to clarify its opposition to a lawsuit that may finish the supply of abortion tablets by mail.
“I must address an elephant in the room,” Vance mentioned, nodding to a few of these considerations. He known as out “a fear that some of you have, that not enough progress has been made, that not enough has happened in the political arena, that we’re not going fast enough, that our politics have failed to answer the clarion call to life.”
“I want you to know that I hear you and that I understand there will inevitably be debates within this movement,” Vance mentioned, earlier than pointing to what he argued have been the motion’s long-term positive aspects.
Vance additionally took a second to spotlight his growing family earlier than the March for Life crowd.
“In my remarks last year, I told you all that one of the things I most wanted in the United States of America was more families and more babies,” he mentioned. “So let the record show, you have a vice president who practices what he preaches. Usha and I announced this week that we’re expecting our fourth.”