BREAKING NEWS: Trump Announces Vast Pro-Life Policies
By: Lisa Correnti, originally published January 24, 2025, C-Fam.org
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 24 (C-Fam) President Donald Trump made several important pro-life announcements today.
By video conference at the March for Life, the President thanked attendees for their “extraordinary love and compassion for the unborn.” “This annual march,” he said, “started 52 years ago, on the first anniversary of the disastrous ruling known as Roe v. Wade.”
During his address Trump indirectly expressed support for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act when he criticized Democrats for support for abortion even “after birth.” The Act passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, would require medical intervention to save the life of an infant that survives an abortion. He also told marchers about his pardon of 23 pro-life activists prosecuted and excessively sentenced for violating a law that restricts the distance activists must observe outside abortion clinics while counseling women seeking abortions.
Significant pro-life policy announcements came later after Trump’s visit to fire and flood victims in North Carolina and California.
President Trump issued a memorandum reinstating the Mexico City Policy. First instituted by President Reagan, Mexico City Policy prohibits U.S. funds from going to foreign organizations that promote or perform abortion. As in his first term his prohibition extends to all global health funds – about $11 billion and is referred to as the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy (PLGHA).
It was also announced today that President Trump has directed the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that all existing grants and contracts would be paused pending a 90-day mandatory review. The implementation notice is a follow-up to Monday’s executive order. Foreign assistance could be terminated if “not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States.” Potentially, this could end many overseas programs that promote the sexual revolution.
It was also announced that the United States would rejoin the Geneva Consensus Declaration – an agreement established during President Trump’s first tenure that promotes optimal women’s health, recognizes the fundamental value of the family and the sovereign right of countries to make their own laws. The declaration is vehemently opposed by reproductive rights advocates due to the inclusion of text that states there is no international right to abortion.
“The Trump Administration is committed to supporting families, promoting women’s health, and protecting children at all stages of life,” read the Department of State announcement. Also included was that the U.S. would “pursue these objectives in cooperation with member states in the UN system and through our continued shared ambition for improved health for women and girls.”
The United States will be the 40th signatory and likely resume its leadership role as the secretariat of the Coalition.
The reversal of President Biden’s overseas abortion policy was quickly praised by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) Co-Chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus.
“Without this protection in place, NGOs receiving U.S. government funds promote and perform abortion throughout the world with massive subsidies from the United States. By redirecting taxpayer dollars away from the abortion industry, President Trump has re-instituted a life-affirming protection consistent with the political consensus that taxpayer dollars should not fund abortion and the abortion industry,” Smith said.
Lisa Correnti is Executive Vice President of C-Fam (Center for Family & Human Rights), and is passionate about helping women and children around the world.