Give Trump’s State Department credit for fighting abortion in Africa

(LifeSiteNews) — The second Trump administration has been a crushing disappointment for pro-lifers. As I noted in a recent essay for First Things, it is becoming increasingly clear that the gains of the first Trump administration were largely the doing of steadfast pro-lifers such as former Vice President Mike Pence, who worked tirelessly to ensure that the rights of the preborn were front and center for four years. 

The silver lining has been Marco Rubio’s State Department. “We’re gonna start blocking every international NGO that performs or promotes abortion abroad from receiving a dollar of U.S. money,” Vice President JD Vance told the March for Life in January, announcing a new expanded version of the Mexico City Policy, which bans American taxpayer dollars from funding abortions overseas.

On July 18, a report from the Associated Press detailed the U.S. State Department’s international pro-life agenda, replete with the standard (false) accusations that opposition to abortion places women’s lives at risk. 

“This year, the Trump administration delivered new momentum to the movement exporting ‘family values’ overseas,” AP noted. “It announced sweeping restrictions on U.S. funding for organizations that work on abortion-related issues overseas, which can impact up to $30 billion in aid. These new restrictions build on the work that U.S. anti-abortion groups have been doing for years in Africa, where healthcare systems are highly dependent on foreign funding.”

According to the Institute for Journalism and Social Change, a pro-abortion activist outfit, seventeen American pro-life organizations “spent more than $9.3 million across Africa in 2023 and 2024,” which is in addition to the “$16 million they sent to the continent from 2019 to 2022 — which is an underestimate, the researchers said.”

READ: African nations sign charter vowing to defend traditional family values from LGBT agenda

“We can see quite clearly from the publicly available financial filings of U.S. Christian right groups that they have been making historic investments in Africa,” said Claire Provost of the IJSC. “The amounts of money are significant; the increases are significant. And this reflects a lot of what we’re hearing from sexual and reproductive rights activists on the continent that have been flagging repeatedly the increasing visibility of U.S. groups and U.S. funded groups, U.S. supported groups, in battles against rights that are extremely, extremely serious.”

While $25 million may seem like a large amount, the Associated Press fails to mention that pro-abortion groups—often with massive infusions of taxpayer dollars—spend billions of dollars in Africa pushing their “family planning” agenda. MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes International) spent hundreds of millions in 2025 alone. International Planned Parenthood also spends millions on the continent.

The war over abortion in Africa is a David and Goliath battle—but thankfully, pro-lifers are gaining ground. “In May, an appeals court in Kenya overturned a ruling that affirmed access to abortion is a fundamental right — a case led by Kanjama, who said the decision restored constitutional balance,” AP reported. 

In June, representatives of 20 African countries finalized a draft charter at a conference in Ghana that calls for rejecting sexual and reproductive health rights. It will be voted on by the African Union next year. U.S.-based anti-abortion group Family Watch International’s co-founder, Sharon Slater, was among those fundraising for the charter’s passage at the European Parliament in Brussels this year.

“The American people expect their tax dollars to support programs that save lives … and reflect American values, not fund abortion-related activities, left-wing social agendas, or wasteful overseas bureaucracies,” the U.S. State Department said in response to AP’s request for comment. “U.S. assistance continues to support a wide range of maternal and child health services as part of the America First Global Health Strategy.”