Biden signs memorandum reversing Trump abortion access restrictions

CNN — President Joe Biden signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday to reverse restrictions on abortion access domestically and abroad imposed and expanded by the Trump administration. He added that the measure “relates to protecting women’s health at home and abroad, and it reinstates the changes that were made to Title X and other things making it harder for women to have access to affordable health care as it relates to their reproductive rights.” Biden’s move fulfilled a campaign promise to rescind the so-called Mexico City Policy, a ban on US government funding for foreign nonprofits that perform or promote abortions. Abortion access abroad Beyond US borders, the impact of Trump’s expanded Mexico City Policy, formally called “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance,” has “really been devastating,” said Melvine Ouyo, a Nairobi-based reproductive health nurse and former clinic director at Family Health Options Kenya. “Rescinding the Mexico City Policy on the eve of the March for Life is a deeply disturbing move, especially when the President says he wants national unity,” March for Life president Jeanne Mancini said Thursday, adding that the government “should work to protect the inherent dignity of all persons, born and unborn.” Abortion access domestically Biden’s memorandum also deals with Title X, a federally-funded program that served about 4 million people a year prior to the abortion referral rule’s implementation, according to HHS. In light of how some “patients have been in the dark” after they were no longer able to get free or low cost health care from their usual providers, “I would say it would take a long time for providers to regain the trust and confidence that patients have had in them,” Sandusky said, as well as “to regain trust in the federal government and to assure providers that they have support that they need from this administration and from Congress.” In a call with reporters on Wednesday, Planned Parenthood President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson called rolling back the Mexico City Policy and the Title X abortion referral restriction “a great start, one that will increase access and meaningfully impact people’s lives, but I’ll emphasize again, this is a start.” When asked about conversations between Planned Parenthood and the Biden administration on Title X, McGill Johnson described “very robust, and I would say, exciting conversations not just about the domestic gag rule but also thinking about how more investments can go into access to family planning and contraception, how to be more inclusive, how we can use policy to also engage men, to engage other populations.” “We need to improve and modernize Title X,” McGill Johnson said, later adding, “making sure that it meaningfully reflects the sexual and reproductive health care needs of all patients.” Beyond Biden’s actions Lawmakers, pointing to data that show the policies result in more unsafe abortions, more unwanted pregnancies, more maternal deaths and have a disproportionate impact on Black and brown women, say they are seizing the moment as well.