Trump Erases Biden’s Attempt To Force Unpopular Taxpayer-Funded Abortion On Americans
By: Jordan Boyd, originally published January 27, 2025, The Federalist
Americans who overwhelmingly oppose taxpayer-funded abortions will no longer be forced to pay for overseas baby-killing after President Donald Trump signed an executive order reinstating prohibitions on the unpopular practice.
In a January 24 memorandum, Trump ordered the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, the secretary of health and human services, and the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development to immediately cease by reinstating the Mexico City policy first implemented by President Ronald Reagan.
When properly enforced, the memo ensures millions of Americans’ hard-earned dollars will not be funneled, in the form of U.S. foreign aid, to organizations that lobby for, perform, or encourage abortions.
Trump initially adopted the global gag rule during his first administration, but former President Joe Biden reversed it mere days into his White House tenure.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, Biden also took aim at the Hyde Amendment throughout his administration including ordering his secretary of health and human services to “protect and expand access to abortion” including the dangerous and sometimes fatal drug regimen responsible for most of the nation’s abortions.
On the same day Trump published his intent to restore the Mexico City Policy, however, the Republican also issued an executive order affirming the Hyde Amendment and signaling an “end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.” The executive order directly rebuked the Biden administration for doing away with “this established, commonsense policy by embedding forced taxpayer funding of elective abortions in a wide variety of Federal programs.”
A majority of Americans, 57 percent, oppose or strongly oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortions on U.S. soil, according to a recent Marist Poll. That number jumps to 73 percent when the tax dollars are designated for abortions abroad and is six percentage points higher than the opposition measured in January 2024.
Trump’s week-one directives not only bring the country into further alignment with the public’s disapproval of taxpayer-funded abortion, but signal the Republican administration’s openness to other protections for women, babies, and Americans’ pocketbooks.
“Government-compelled participation in abortion has no place in our country. American taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to fund abortions or to export and promote them abroad,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, vice president of the ADF Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, said in a statement. “We’re pleased to see the Trump administration take these crucial steps to redirect American taxpayer dollars to programs that offer real health care for women and children instead of the scandal-ridden abortion industry.”
Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and producer of The Federalist Radio Hour.