WASHINGTON — In a move likely to prove only symbolic, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted on Thursday to overturn the Mexico City Policy, which President Trump announced in January he would reinstate and which the State Department formalized in May.
The policy, put in place by Republican presidents and nullified by Democratic ones for three decades, prevents federal family planning assistance from reaching foreign nongovernmental organizations that promote or provide abortions. The policy as announced by the State Department in the spring went a step further by prohibiting any global health assistance from going to these foreign NGOs.
The committee voted 16-14 on Thursday to support an amendment to the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs budget that would overturn the policy. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who offered the amendment, introduced legislation with the same intent in January, days after President Trump announced he would reinstate the ban.
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