What is the “Mexico City” policy and what is the “Global Gag Rule”?

Answer: The "Mexico City" policy was issued by President Reagan in 1984. Named after a population conference held in Mexico City, it prohibited organizations that received U.S. funds from counseling women about abortion services legal within their own countries; from speaking out on abortion issues, even during democratic policy debate; or from performing legal abortion services, even with their own funds. The restrictions were never enacted into law but were enforced as executive branch policy from 1984 until President Clinton repealed them in his first few days of office in early 1993.

The "Global Gag Rule" became law for the first time as part of the FY2000 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, a compromise between the Clinton Administration and congressional leaders to release $900 million in unpaid dues to the United Nations. The gag rule was struck from the FY2001 spending bill, but international family planning funds were held up until Feb. 15, 2001 to secure the bill’s passage—allowing further policy decisions to be made after President Clinton left office.

As one of the first policy actions of the new administration, President George W. Bush issued a Jan. 22, 2001 memorandum reinstating the "global gag rule." It prohibits foreign groups that receive U.S. international family planning assistance from lobbying for or against abortion laws in their own countries—prohibiting them from participating in the democratic process, even with their own funds. It also prohibits clinics from using their own money to perform legal abortion services.