WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump issued a memo Friday evening that would reinstate two global family planning policies and rescinded two Biden administration memos — his first major foray into regulating reproductive health after deemphasizing the issue on the campaign trail last year.

The memo would instruct the Health and Human Services and State departments to reinstate funding restrictions to the United Nations Population Fund, known as UNFPA, and to foreign nongovernmental organizations that perform, refer for or provide counseling for abortion abroad.

The instructions fall in line with policies implemented during every Republican presidency since Ronald Reagan. Under Democratic administrations, the funding is reinstated.

Trump’s international aid memo would reverse the memo issued by former President Joe Biden in January 2021. The administration is expected to issue agency guidance in the coming months to detail how the policy will work in practice.

Trump pledged his support for the anti-abortion movement in a recorded message shown at the March for Life earlier Friday.

The funding changes to international NGOs that support abortion abroad is referred to as the Mexico City Policy by its proponents, a nod to the city where Reagan announced the first iteration of the regulation.

The memo issued Friday largely mirrors Trump’s initial memorandum issued on Jan. 23, 2017.

Following that memo, the first Trump administration expanded the Mexico City Policy in May 2017 to cover more global health assistance programs and in March 2019 to cover umbrella groups that fund smaller NGOs.

The changes would affect millions in federal foreign aid.

The U.S. does not provide federal funding for abortions abroad, but during Democratic administrations NGOs that use separate funding for abortion-related activities are still eligible for U.S. global aid.

Trump’s memo “demonstrates again that U.S. foreign policy can consistently provide compassionate, tangible assistance to women and children and rejects the grisly business of abortion,” said Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-N.J. “Under President Trump, the United States will now once again work with organizations that share pro-life, pro-health principles instead of groups that place their abortion agenda ahead of true health care.”

Trump’s memo would also put a moratorium on funds for the UNFPA, the United Nations’ maternal and reproductive health agency.

Republicans have opposed the agency over concerns related to its programming in China violates prohibitions under an annual State-Foreign Operations appropriations rider known as the Kemp-Kasten amendment.

The Kemp-Kasten rider prohibits using federal funds to support “coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.”

“I further direct the Secretary of State to take all necessary actions, to the extent permitted by law, to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars do not fund organizations or programs that support or participate in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization,” the memo reads.

U.S.-led investigations have not found evidence that the intergovernmental agency supported these banned activities in China.

“It is unsurprising, but extremely telling, that some of the very first moves of Donald Trump’s second administration prioritize attacking reproductive health care and targeting vulnerable women and girls around the world,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in a statement. “When we invest in a safer and healthier world, that pays dividends for America.“

Trump also called for the U.S. to rejoin as a signatory of what is known as the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a non-binding document spearheaded under the first Trump administration that has countries pledge their commitment against abortion and for advancing women and children’s health efforts.

Biden withdrew from the declaration in January 2021 upon taking office.

Republicans introduced a resolution in mid-January that would express support for the document.

Trump also announced the administration would rescind two Biden administration executive orders — a move he said would ensure that Hyde amendment-type restrictions, which bar federal funding for abortions, are enforced across departments.

One order had directed agencies to consider ways to expand access to reproductive health while the second directed HHS to consider allowing Medicaid to help with abortion-related travel.

Bracing for impact

International NGOs and other recipients of family planning funding have been readying for the memo since the election.

“I think it’s not about the day that Trump will, like, sign, but we are already facing those situations on the ground. What he’s going to do will just be to confirm what people will likely be facing,” said Jean Claude Mulunda, country director for Ipas Democratic Republic of Congo, which supports abortion rights.

The U.S has been the top member-state donor for the UNFPA for 2022-2024.

According to provisional data provided by UNFPA, U.S. contributions will total more than $200 million for 2024, amounting to about 11% of its core funding and about 50% of its humanitarian funding.

Beth Sully, principal research scientist for the Guttmacher Institute, said funding cuts would be more harshly felt this time.

“I think we’re just in a very different position than we were before,” she said during a press call. “A number of European countries have been key funders supporting abortion rights globally, and those are ones that have undergone pretty significant cuts.“

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