WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden today issued executive orders that, among other things, reversed the rule known as the Mexico City policy that bars foreign nongovernmental groups that get U.S. funding from providing abortions or abortion referrals. Heritage Foundation research associate Melanie Israel offered the following reaction:

“The American people shouldn’t be forced to bankroll the abortion industry, in America or in foreign countries. Predictably, among President Biden’s first acts was rescinding the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) Policy. Since 1984, it has been enforced by every Republican president and suspended by every Democratic president shortly after being inaugurated.

"Under its original iteration as the Mexico City Policy, foreign nongovernmental organizations that received United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and State Department family planning assistance funds had to certify that they will not perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning.

"Under President Trump, the policy was expanded to apply to billions of Department of State, USAID, and Department of Defense funds and became known as PLGHA. President Biden will also work to roll back Trump administration policies that sought to separate government programs, such as the Title X family planning program and Medicaid, from the abortion industry. The majority of Americans do not want their tax dollars going toward abortions overseas or domestically, and today’s action ignores this bipartisan consensus.”