(With thanks to KFF, the leading health policy organization in the U.S.)
Extracts below. Read in full: https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/the-trump-administrations-lates...
On January 27, 2026, the Trump administration released details of the latest expansion of the Mexico City Policy, a policy he reinstated in January of last year. The policy, which has been in effect, depending on the party of the President, since 1984, has required foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to certify that they would not “perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning” using funds from any source (including non-U.S. funds) as a condition of receiving U.S. government global family planning funding. In 2017, President Trump reinstated the policy but also significantly expanded it to encompass the vast majority of U.S. bilateral global health assistance. The latest expansion, now part of a broader set of restrictions known as the “Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance (PHFFA)” Policy, applies to significantly more funding, many more organizations, and new services and activities. Specifically, it now applies to most non-military foreign assistance and most recipients of foreign aid (not just foreign NGOs). And, in addition to abortion, it prohibits activities related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and promoting or providing gender affirming care, legal protections based on gender identity, and other related services and activities...
Among opponents, [the Mexico City Policy] has also been known as the “Global Gag Rule,” because among other activities, it prohibited foreign NGOs from using any funds (including non-U.S. funds) to provide information about abortion as a method of family planning and to lobby a foreign government to legalize abortion.
COMMENT (NPW): There is wide agreement that the Mexico City Policy has led to substantial increases in maternal and child deaths, and HIV infections. A 2022 paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimated that 'reinstating the MCP between 2017 and 2021 resulted in approximately 108,000 maternal and child deaths and 360,000 new HIV infections'. https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2123177119?doi=10.1073%2Fpnas.... The new expaqnsion of the rule is likely to be even more deadly.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org