
The budget proposal follows the announcement of the expansion of the Global Gag Rule (or Mexico City Policy) from an envelope of $600 million to one of $8billion. This means the GGR will directly impact the uptake of HIV and AIDs, maternal and child health, malaria and other international health programmes. Concretely this means that organisations receiving US support for the uptake of HIV, TB or malaria will need to sign up to the GGR if they want to continue receiving support.
The expansion of the GGR and the proposed budget cuts in family planning illustrate the influence of a relatively small but well-organised American anti-abortion lobby over the current Trump administration. The measurements are also a consequence of Trump’s intention to cut back development cooperation. The measurements go directly against the international agreement of universal access to family planning and reproductive health services by 2030, the deadline of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.