The Biden administration will repeal anti-abortion restrictions on American aid and join the international vaccine-sharing scheme Covax, Anthony Fauci has announced in remarks signalling a major turnaround in US global health policy.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, announced the changes in a speech to the World Health Organization on Thursday morning after being chosen to head the US delegation to the global health group in one of the first acts of Joe Biden’s presidency.
“President Biden will be revoking the ‘Mexico City policy’ in the coming days as part of his broader commitment to protect women’s health and advance gender equality at home and around the world,” Fauci told the group’s annual executive board meeting.
The Mexico City policy, also known as the “global gag rule”, bans foreign NGOs from performing or promoting abortions as a condition of receiving US family planning aid. Introduced by Ronald Reagan in 1984, it has been repealed by every Democratic president and reinstated by every Republican one since.
PHOTO CREDIT: NIAID
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