Trump administration is expanding ‘Mexico City’ abortion policy to also ban funding for NGOs that it says promote DEI

By Alejandra Jaramillo, Jennifer Hansler, CNN

(CNN) — Vice President JD Vance on Friday said the Trump administration is expanding the so-called Mexico City Policy, to not only bar US government funding for organizations that perform and promote abortions, but also to those the administration says promote diversity, equity and inclusion and “gender ideology.”

His announcement came at the annual March for Life rally in Washington, DC, where the vice president sought to allay fears from the anti-abortion movement that the Trump administration has not done enough on the issue.

“We’re going to start blocking every international NGO that performs or promotes abortion abroad from receiving $1 of US money,” Vance said. “Now we’re expanding this policy to protect life, to combat DEI and the radical gender ideologies that prey on our children.”

The Trump administration has made a crackdown on so-called DEI policies and programs a cornerstone of its agenda. And this week’s announcement marks a significant expansion of the Mexico City Policy, called the “Global Gag Rule” by its critics. Established under President Ronald Reagan, the policy has been consistently rescinded by Democratic administrations and reinstated by Republican ones.

The expanded policy, according to an administration official, “applies to not only foreign NGOs, but also international organizations and US NGOs.”

The official said the expansion “goes beyond $8 billion in global health to cover more than $30 billion in foreign assistance.”

Vance’s remarks — and a pre-recorded video message from President Donald Trump in which he touted his judicial appointments — come as the administration faces pressure from social conservatives to do more to limit access to medication abortion. That includes a looming deadline to explain its opposition to a lawsuit that would end the availability of abortion pills by mail.

“I must address an elephant in the room,” Vance said, nodding to some of those concerns. He called out “a fear that some of you have, that not enough progress has been made, that not enough has happened in the political arena, that we’re not going fast enough, that our politics have failed to answer the clarion call to life.”

“I want you to know that I hear you and that I understand there will inevitably be debates within this movement,” Vance said, before pointing to what he argued were the movement’s long-term gains.

Vance also took a moment to highlight his growing family before the March for Life crowd.

“In my remarks last year, I told you all that one of the things I most wanted in the United States of America was more families and more babies,” he said. “So let the record show, you have a vice president who practices what he preaches. Usha and I announced this week that we’re expecting our fourth.”

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