Trump Administration Takes First Anti-abortion Move On World Stage

The Trump administration plans to rejoin an international anti-abortion pact alongside countries such as Uganda, Saudi Arabia and Belarus, taking its first formal step to roll back Biden-era global health policies and previewing an expected strategy of seeking to curtail abortion access for millions of women and girls worldwide.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in a confidential diplomatic cable issued Friday to notify countries that it plans to re-join the so-called Geneva Consensus Declaration. POLITICO obtained a copy of the document.

The Geneva declaration was a first Trump-term initiative sponsored by six countries — the United States, Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia and Uganda — that sought to curb global access and support for abortions by stating that there is no international right to abortion and thus countries don’t have any obligation to finance it or facilitate it.

When he took office, President Joe Biden withdrew from the declaration as part of the Democrats’ support for abortion rights.

Rubio’s cable took a parting shot at the prior administration, saying Biden’s decision to withdraw from the pact “combined with the Biden administration's negative rhetoric and pressure tactics, undermined women's health and diminished each nation's sovereign right to legislate its own position on matters of women's health and the family.”

The cable continues: “We are committed to promoting women's health and meeting the needs of women, children and their families at all stages of life. We will pursue these objectives in cooperation with member states in the U.N. system and through our continued shared ambition for improved health for women and girls.”

His cable came the same day Vice President JD Vance told thousands of anti-abortion protesters at the March for Life rally in Washington that Trump will be the “the most pro-family, most pro-life American president of our lifetimes.”

The Geneva Consensus Declaration is a non-binding pact that was adopted in October 2020. It eventually drew support from 39 countries, including Belarus, Congo, Hungary, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Libya, Pakistan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan and Uganda.

Brazil and Colombia have since withdrawn from it, as progressive heads of states took over in both countries.

Abortion and gender rights advocates have sharply criticized the pact, saying such initiatives endanger the lives of women and girls, particularly in developing countries that rely on foreign assistance for sexual and reproductive health support. The declaration’s signatory countries state they support women’s health, but that reproductive health and rights do not include abortion.

The first Trump administration took a hardline stance against any health initiatives seen to be tacitly endorsing abortion that offer a preview of what Trump’s return to the Oval Office means for U.S. posturing on global health in the United Nations and other international forums.

In 2019, for example, the Trump administration threatened to veto a U.N.-led resolution aimed at preventing rape in conflict zones over claims that language in the resolution on sexual and reproductive health condoned abortions. Ultimately, the resolution was passed with U.S. support after Germany, a lead sponsor of the initiative, stripped the language in question from the resolution.