Human rights groups hit out at Trump expanding ‘disastrous and deadly’ abortion policy

Human rights groups and charities have hit out at the decision by Donald Trump's administration to extend the US policy that bars groups receiving foreign aid from promoting abortion — even using their own money — in what has been called a "disastrous and deadly" move.

Known as the "Mexico City policy" or by critics as the "global gag rule," the policy was reinstated by Trump when he returned to the White House last year. That followed a tradition for Republican presidents since Ronald Reagan introduced the policy in 1984. Democratic presidents have repeatedly dropped it.

In what Vice President JD Vance has called “a historic expansion of the Mexico City Policy”, the U.S. will stop funding any organization working on diversity and transgender issues abroad. Mr Vance says the change will make the policy “about three times as big as it was before... and we’re proud of it because we believe in fighting for life”.

In response, Amnesty International’s senior director for research, advocacy policy and campaigns, Erika Guevara-Rosas, said: “The expansion of the Global Gag Rule is an assault on human rights. By targeting organizations that support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and recognise gender diversity, the Trump administration is deliberately deepening inequality and putting the lives of millions around the world at risk.

“The Global Gag Rule is a disastrous and deadly US policy. It strangles healthcare systems, censors information and violates the rights to health, information, and free expression... Doubling down on this policy is cruel, reckless and ideologically driven. Expanding it to international and U.S.-based organizations will impact the poorest and marginalised first and hardest," she added.

Beth Schlachter, senior director of US external relations at MSI Reproductive Choices, said of the Mexico City decision: “Just as the Trump administration has aggressively sought to cripple abortion access at home [in the US], they are now exporting the same playbook worldwide, in a move that will deny women lifesaving care and deepen stigma. This follows the abrupt and deadly withdrawal of US development and humanitarian assistance in 2025, which, overnight, decimated decades of trust, disrupted lifesaving services and deprived women and girls of essential healthcare and reproductive choices.”

As well as reinstating the Mexico City policy, Trump also issued a complete freeze on foreign aid spending when retaking office, followed by significant aid cuts. The U.S. is now in the process of striking new funding agreements with African governments. These promise aid money in exchange for certain conditions – from mining rights and access to valuable patient data, to agreements to spend national health budgets on priorities dictated by America. The deals replace a patchwork of previous health agreements under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has been dismantled.

MSI is concerned that vague language leaves the door open to more rules and restrictions being imposed after governments are already locked into the agreements, for example, saying they can't use their own money from taxation for abortion services or risk losing U.S. funding.

Sarah Shaw, advocacy director at MSI, previously told The Independent: "What's really manipulative about the compacts is not really what they're saying, it's what they're not saying. And there's just lots of loopholes in the language that favour the US government.”

In a joint statement, the leadership of several Congressional groups, the Congressional Reproductive Freedom Caucus (RFC), Congressional Equality Caucus (CEC), Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC), Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), Congressional Asian and Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), and Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), condemned the Mexico City policy decision said:

"The [Mexico City] rule currently in place, expanded by Donald Trump, already weaponises U.S. global health assistance against the very people it is meant to help to an unprecedented degree —and to the cost of women and girls’ lives and health.

"We strongly condemn this weaponisation of U.S. foreign assistance to undermine human rights and global health. We will not rest until we ensure that our foreign aid dollars can never be used as a weapon against women, people of color, or LGBT+ people ever again," the statement added.

This article has been produced as part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project