Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Enforces Overwhelmingly Popular Demand to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Abortion

Fact Sheets

TLDR

This fact sheet presents several misleading or false claims about abortion-related policies, including: mischaracterizing Biden’s executive orders, understating the Mexico City Policy’s impacts on global health, overstating Trump’s March for Life participation, and inaccurately framing various funding restrictions and conscience protection measures while obscuring their actual effects on healthcare access.

This fact sheet consistently frames restrictive policies as protective measures while downplaying or misrepresenting their actual impacts on healthcare access and services.

The claim that Biden “embedded federal funding of elective abortion in a wide variety of government programs” is misleading. The Hyde Amendment remained in effect throughout Biden’s term, continuing to prohibit federal funding for most abortions.

The characterization of EO 14076 as “politicizing” FACE Act enforcement is deceptive. The order primarily focused on protecting access to emergency medical care and personal health information.

The assertion that EO 14079 “recategorized abortion as healthcare” to provide taxpayer funding is false. The order addressed emergency medical care access and civil rights protections.

The claim that the Mexico City Policy “in no way diminished women’s health” contradicts evidence. Studies showed the policy led to:

  • Increased abortion rates
  • Reduced contraceptive access
  • Clinic closures
  • Disrupted HIV/AIDS and maternal health programs

The statement about “returning the issue to a vote of the people” is misleading since Trump has simultaneously:

  • Reinstated federal restrictions on international aid
  • Imposed federal limitations on domestic funding
  • Expanded federal policy reach beyond previous versions

The claim of being “first president in history to attend March for Life” only applies to in-person attendance in 2020. Previous presidents had addressed the march remotely.

The statement about “protecting conscience rights” omits that many of these policies were blocked by courts or never fully implemented.

The characterization of the Mexico City Policy expansion as simply ensuring “no taxpayer money supports abortion” understates its sweeping impact on global health programs, affecting approximately $12 billion in aid versus the previous $600 million scope.

ENFORCING THE HYDE AMENDMENT: On Friday, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to end the use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.

  • The Order recognizes that, for nearly five decades, Congress has enacted the Hyde Amendment and a series of additional laws to protect taxpayers from being forced to pay for abortion. Contrary to this longstanding commonsense policy, the previous administration embedded federal funding of elective abortion in a wide variety of government programs.

  • To restore this longstanding policy, the Order rescinds two executive orders from President Biden that violate the Hyde Amendment:

    • Executive Order 14076 imposed a whole-of-government effort to promote and fund abortion and to politicize enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

      • Federal statutes protecting access to emergency medical care for pregnant women under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and protecting personal health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) remain in full effect.

    • Executive Order 14079 recategorized abortion as “healthcare” in order to provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions. This included using Medicaid funding to pay for travel costs for elective abortions.

ENDING FEDERAL FUNDING OF ABORTION OVERSEAS: President Donald J. Trump also signed a Presidential Memorandum reinstating the Mexico City Policy to stop the use of federal taxpayer dollars for abortion overseas.

  • The President’s policy from 2017 is reinstated to ensure that no U.S. taxpayer money supports foreign organizations that perform or actively promote abortion in other nations.
  • The first Trump Administration also extended this policy to global health assistance. A 2020 report by the United States Agency for International Development found that this life-affirming policy in no way diminished women’s health around the world.

PROTECTING TAXPAYERS FROM FUNDING ABORTION: For the first time in nearly fifty years, President Trump returned the issue of life to a vote of the people, from within the States.

  • Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022), overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the power to regulate issues of life and safety to the people. Three of the justices deciding the case were appointed by President Trump.
  • Federal overreach and taxpayer dollars will no longer force violations of faith and conscience or impede the ability of states to determine life policies through a vote of the people.
    • For example, under President Biden, the Department of Defense reimbursed abortion-related travel expenses, the Department of Veterans Affairs allowed hospitals to provide abortions, and the Department of Health and Human Services paid for abortions for illegal immigrants.

PRESIDENT TRUMP PROMISED AND DELIVERED: President Trump promised to protect and defend a vote of the people, from within the states, on the issue of life. Today’s executive actions build on the long list of accomplishments from the first Trump Administration to support the sanctity of every human life and prevent taxpayer funding of abortion. Select highlights of the first Trump Administration’s work include:

  • Reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, ensuring that taxpayer money is not used to fund abortion globally.
  • Issued a rule preventing Title X taxpayer funding from subsiding the abortion industry.
  • Cut all funding to the United Nations Population Fund, which supports coercive abortion and forced sterilization.
  • Signed legislation overturning the previous administration’s regulation that prohibited states from defunding abortion facilities as part of their family planning programs.
  • Fully enforced the separate payment requirement for abortion coverage in Obamacare exchange plans.
  • Stopped the Federal funding of fetal tissue research.
  • Worked to protect healthcare entities and individuals’ conscience rights, ensuring that no medical professional is forced to participate in an abortion in violation of their beliefs.
  • Issued an executive order reinforcing the requirement that all hospitals in the United States provide medical treatment or an emergency transfer for infants who are in need of emergency medical care—regardless of prematurity or disability.
  • Led a coalition of countries to sign the Geneva Consensus Declaration, declaring that there is no international right to abortion and committing to protecting women’s health.
  • First president in history to attend the March for Life.