Explanation of Restrictions
Post-Abortion Contraceptive Counseling and Services
NGOs may receive USAID assistance to provide contraceptive counseling and services to women who have had spontaneous or induced abortions, including illegal abortions. Organizations may communicate and coordinate activities with any other foreign NGOs, including abortion service providers, in order to facilitate post-abortion contraceptive or reproductive health services.
Biomedical Research on Abortion
Under a 1981 legislative prohibition enacted by Congress, organizations—both foreign and domestic—may still not use U.S. funds to engage in biomedical research on abortion. NGOs, however, may use funds obtained from other sources to do such research.
Demographic & Health Research on Abortion
Foreign NGOs do not risk their eligibility for USAID family planning assistance if they engage in research on the subject of abortion. In addition to keeping routine information on clients’ abortion histories, organizations may collect information on the general incidence of abortion and its causes, on the health impact of illegal abortion including related deaths and injuries, and on its cost to the health care delivery system. These types of epidemiological or descriptive research can be supported with USAID assistance.
A NGO receiving USAID funding may not itself use the results of this research (whether the research is funded by USAID or not), or any other research, to lobby for the legalization of abortion or continuation of abortion laws with exceptions broader than life of the woman, rape or incest. But the organization’s eligibility for USAID support is not jeopardized merely by participating in research that others may use in advancing abortion law reform.
Lobbying
Foreign NGOs receiving USAID family planning assistance may not lobby their government to legalize or to “continue the legality” of abortion for reasons other than to save the life of the woman, rape or incest.
In addition, foreign NGOs receiving USAID family planning assistance may not conduct “a public information campaign…regarding the benefits and/or availability of abortion” except in cases of life endangerment, rape or incest. However, the policy does not preclude the use of demographic and health research on abortion described above by certain NGOs (such as a U.S. NGO or a foreign NGO which does not receive USAID assistance) to lobby foreign governments to legalize abortion.
Provision of HIV/AIDS Services
The Mexico City Policy does not apply to HIV/AIDS assistance from the U.S. government. Foreign NGOs providing HIV/AIDS services are eligible to receive U.S. HIV/AIDS assistance, regardless of their eligibility to receive U.S. family planning assistance.
For example, foreign NGOs that refused the terms of the Mexico City Policy restrictions and no longer receive U.S. family planning assistance are eligible to receive U.S. HIV/AIDS assistance—from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) or any other U.S. government source of HIV/AIDS assistance. Similarly, the policy does not apply to U.S.-donated condoms and other supplies, equipment, and technical assistance provided with HIV/AIDS assistance. U.S. and foreign NGOs receiving U.S. HIV/AIDS assistance may engage in lawful abortion-related activities with their private, non-U.S. funds.
NGOs need to be aware of and understand newer eligibility requirements governing U.S. HIV/AIDS assistance. In particular, both U.S. and foreign NGOs must ensure that no U.S. funds are used “to promote or advocate the legalization or practice of prostitution or sex trafficking” and must have an organizational “policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking” in order to be eligible to receive U.S. HIV/AIDS or anti-trafficking assistance. For more information about this and related U.S. HIV/AIDS policies, see PAI’s brochure, What You Need to Know About the Global Gag Rule and U.S. HIV/AIDS Assistance: An Unofficial Guide.
