President Biden Reverses Mexico City Policy

President Biden signed an executive order on Thursday, the eve of the March for Life, to permit U.S. aid money to go to international non-profits that provide abortion counseling or referrals. The executive order reverses the Mexico City policy, an order put in place by President Ronald Reagan, that protected taxpayers from indirectly funding abortions around the world. The policy has been reversed by executive order by every Democratic administration and has been reinstated by every Republican administration since Reagan. The order also directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to consider whether to rescind regulations under its Title X family planning program. Under the Trump administration, HHS had recently promulgated rules for Title X that would bar program recipients from making abortion referrals and would require financial and physical separation between abortion clinics and facilities that receive Title X funds. 

Archbishop Joseph Naumann, Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop David J. Malloy, Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, responded to the news of the executive order, stating, "It is grievous that one of President Biden's first official acts actively promotes the destruction of human lives in developing nations." Stating that the executive order "is antithetical to reason, violates human dignity, and is incompatible with Catholic teaching," the bishops urged President Biden "to use his office for good, prioritizing the most vulnerable, including unborn children."

Read the full statement from Archbishop Naumann and Bishop Malloy here.