Trump's Ban On Funding For Overseas Abortions Has Some Little-Known Exceptions

It was one of Donald Trump's first acts as President: a Jan. 23, 2017 executive order that cuts off U.S. support to foreign groups unless they promise not to "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning." This includes providing patients with referrals or information about the procedure, even if those activities are funded by non-U.S. government sources.

Every Republican president since Ronald Reagan has adopted a variant of the "Mexico City policy" — so called after the city where it was first announced. And every Democratic successor has reversed it.

But . Rather than limiting the ban to U.S. aid for family planning services, Trump has for the first time applied it to aid for virtually all global health services, including HIV treatment and prevention. Meaning if any health service also provides information on abortion, it can't get U.S. funding. , some of the world's largest charities providing health care for people in poor countries have deemed the terms ethically or logistically unacceptable — critics oftenhave already given up millions of dollars in U.S. funding and begun cutting back on services.