The Trump administration’s reinstated and expanded policy requires foreign NGOs to certify that they will not perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning with any funds as a condition of receiving U.S. global health assistance, going beyond prior iterations. While it is not yet known how many NGOs will be affected, this new analysis sought to understand the potential impact by identifying the number of foreign NGOs that received global health assistance during FY 2013-2015 and would have been subject to the policy had it been in place during that time.
The expansion of the policy greatly increased its reach, according to the analysis. Among prime recipients alone, most affected foreign NGOs (92%) and funding (88%) would not have been subject to the policy under its pre-expansion terms. Since its inception in 1984, the Mexico City Policy has usually been applied under Republican presidents and rescinded under Democratic presidents for family planning funds; the Trump policy is broader, encompassing most global health aid.