Obama to Repeal Ban on Overseas Abortion Funding
President Barack Obama is expected on Friday to lift a ban on federal funding for overseas organizations that promote or perform abortion, a senior White House official said.
The so-called Mexico City policy, which was instituted by former President Ronald Reagan in 1984 at the U.N. International Conference on Population held in Mexico City, requires that all international groups receiving U.S. funds agree to "neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations."
Over the years, the policy has been repeatedly repealed by Democratic administrations and then reinstated by Republican presidents. Former President Bill Clinton had lifted the ban, only for it to be immediately reinstated when former President George W. Bush came into office in 2001.
As expected with a Democratic administration, Obama is expected to sign an order overturning the ban "likely today" based on the information a senior White House staff told Agence France-Presse.
If the President does reverse the policy on Friday, it will take place one day after the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
