| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 7, 2018 |
CONTACT: Mallory Quigley mquigley@sba-list.org | 703-380-6674 |
729 of Primary Grantees Have Complied While Only 4 Refused to Stop Promoting Abortion
Washington, D.C. – The U.S. State Department today released a report on the implementation of President Donald Trump’s Executive Memorandum, issued at the beginning of his presidency, reinstating the Mexico City Policy which stops U.S. taxpayer funding of the abortion industry overseas. The expanded, modernized policy, renamed Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance, applies to all foreign health assistance provided by government agencies.
The national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) praised the report in a statement:
“The overwhelming 99.5% compliance rate shows that the dire prognostications of abortion advocates have not come true,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “The Trump administration’s pro-life policy has not reduced foreign assistance by a dime, but instead ensures that U.S. international aid partners act consistently to save lives, rather than promoting and performing abortion. Only a tiny minority of extreme pro-abortion groups have stubbornly refused to put the wellbeing of all women ahead of their agenda. The funds they forfeited have gone to worthy providers who respect the life, dignity, and values of women and families worldwide, as well as the will of American taxpayers. We thank President Trump for this life-affirming policy.”
International pro-life leaders responded:
“On behalf of my country, the Philippines, I’d like to thank President Donald J. Trump for reinstating the Mexico City Policy. The U.S. Government should not be spending precious taxpayer dollars to promote the killing of babies around the world. That is a crime against humanity. I’m glad that President Trump is putting an end to federal funds to promote it. Thank you, President Trump.”- Michael Anthony Mapa, Chairman, Filipinos for Life
“Indian women need life, dignity, education and empowerment, not abortion. We have been exploited through decades-long population control propaganda which has resulted in at least 300 million abortions (16 million abortions being performed in India in just one year) and dangerous sub-replacement fertility rate. Americans do not want their hands in the blood of innocent children killed in India. Yes, we need to deal with development issues, but not by killing our children. Thanks to President Trump for setting things right because we believe in one nation under God, which would be a beacon of hope amidst moral calamity, not the nation which promotes death.” – Carmel Nisha Pius Franco, Director, UYIRKKURAL
According to news reports, two of the four organizations refusing to comply with the policy are the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and Marie Stopes International.
Background on International Planned Parenthood Federation: IPPF performed more than 1 million abortions in 2016, an increase of 13.5 percent over 2015, and received more than $27 million in U.S. government grants in 2015-2016. They reported a 12 percent increase in income and a net operating surplus of $7.6 million in 2016. IPPF targets “poor and vulnerable” populations, stating, “84 percent of all IPPF’s services [in 2016] were delivered in countries identified by the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index as having low or medium levels of human development.” IPPF actively lobbies against pro-life policies and in favor of abortion on-demand around the world; the organization boasts that in 2016, it “contributed to 175 changes in policy or legislation.”
Background on Marie Stopes International: Under the Obama administration the radical international promoter of abortion, Marie Stopes International, received taxpayer funding for HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health and family planning. Marie Stopes says abortion is at the core of their mission and hopes to double their abortion-related services by 2020. Their staff has been caught on tape boasting of doing illegal abortions around the world, and their United Kingdom branch was recently forced to temporarily suspend abortion services for children and vulnerable populations due to serious safety concerns. Marie Stopes is also actively involved in trying to overturn pro-life laws overseas.
President Trump has made four specific commitments to the pro-life movement, including reallocating Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding to comprehensive, whole-woman health care centers.
Susan B. Anthony List and its partner super PAC, Women Speak Out spent more than $18 million in the 2016 election cycle, knocking on more than 1.1 million doors in battleground states to defeat Hillary Clinton and maintain a pro-life Senate. SBA List is dedicated to pursuing policies and electing candidates who will reduce and ultimately end abortion. To that end, the SBA List emphasizes the education, promotion, mobilization, and election of pro-life women. The SBA List is a network of more than 630,000 pro-life Americans nationwide.