Will Trump’s Expanded Policy Against Abortion Harm HIV/AIDS Relief?

Earlier this week, the Trump administration moved forward with plans to withhold global-health funding for organizations that “perform or actively promote abortion” abroad. This move revives an older policy that restricted funds for family-planning organizations—groups that focus on things like contraception and maternal health—and goes further to apply to all global-health funding. As a result, some fear it could wreak havoc on global HIV/AIDS-relief efforts.

Global-health advocates and experts are concerned that the expanded rule could hinder one of the largest disease-relief projects any country has undertaken: the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or , an initiative that has billions of dollars in. PEPFAR relies on a web of clinics, supply chains, and foreign governments working together, and the expanded policy could, some fear, force clinics and community-health organizations to choose between restricting their services or doing without U.S. government funding.