The Mexico City Policy and U.S. Family Planning Assistance

In January 2001, President George W. Bush reimposed a set of restrictions, known as the Mexico City policy, on international family planning assistance provided through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The policy prohibits private overseas grantees of U.S. family planning funding and technical assistance from using their own non-U.S. funds to provide legal abortions (except in the case of rape, incest, or life-threatening conditions), to counsel on abortions (with the same exceptions), and to promote less restrictive laws pertaining to abortion in their own countries. This Policy Forum outlines policy and the public health-relevant positions of proponents and opponents of the policy, and reviews the conclusions of a USAID-funded qualitative study of the policy which was conducted in 1990.