WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The Trump administration’s 90-day freeze on foreign aid dispersed through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has stopped millions of taxpayer dollars from going to international organizations that support abortion, according to the pro-life group Operation Rescue.
The Trump State Department issued the pause last week, citing millions in waste and ideologically-biased programs. With exceptions for certain food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt, the pause is meant to give the administration time to conduct a more thorough review of foreign aid to determine what permanent cuts should be made.
Operation Rescue notes that in 2022 alone, USAID under former President Joe Biden spent $607.5 million on so-called “family planning and reproductive health,” which in practice meant promoting abortion abroad. U.K. abortion business Marie Stopes International received almost $27 million a year from the program.
Fox News adds that in 2023, Rep. Chris Smith found that USAID sent $96.5 million to Population Services International (PSI) and $10.1 million to Village Reach, both pro-abortion groups, via the USAID program United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
“For many years, USAID was part of the criminal Abortion Cartel, promoting the killing of innocent babies in the womb and coercing developing nations to accept abortion,” OR president Troy Newman said. “Thanks to President Trump, that bloody reign of terror inflicted on the world by the Biden Administration has now come to an end. We call on President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio to take steps to ensure that our tax money will never again be used to kill babies in the womb.”
The news follows more direct action President Donald Trump has taken to limit the tax dollars that end up in pro-abortion hands. Late last month, he reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which forbids non-governmental organizations from using taxpayer dollars for elective abortions abroad; and directed federal agencies to recognize the Hyde Amendment, which forbids most taxpayer dollars from directly funding elective abortions.
During his one-term presidency, Biden had ultimately given more than $1.23 billion of American taxpayers’ money to pro-abortion groups, according to an analysis by Restoration of America, including Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the United Nations Population Fund.