A 19-year-old woman talks with nurse Valeria Zafisoa at a traveling contraception clinic in eastern Madagascar run by the British nonprofit group Marie Stopes International.
Samantha Reinders for NPR
Among the promises that President elect-Biden is expected to fulfill immediately upon taking office: lifting a ban that President Trump imposed on U.S. foreign aid dollars related to abortion.
Specifically, the ban prohibits foreign aid funding for privately-run overseas-based groups that “perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning” for women. Activities that are barred include providing referrals for abortion or offering advice or medical information on the procedure. And this is prohibited even if the group funds their communications around abortions with non-U.S. sources.
The funding ban was first imposed in 1984 by then-President Ronald Reagan and has been the subject of political ping-pong ever since. Each incoming Democratic president has lifted it. Each incoming Republican president who followed a Democrat has reenacted it.
