During the campaign, Donald Trump appeared an unlikely convert to the anti-abortion cause. He was for abortion as a New York socialite until he was against it as the Republican nominee for president. But now Trump has signaled that his conversion is more complete.
After taking the Oath of Office, Trump quickly reinstated the Mexico City policy, prohibiting federal dollars administered by the Department of State from funding foreign abortion. And on Monday, Trump doubled down, expanding that policy to “all departments or agencies.”
If Trump raised the anti-abortion banner above the White House shortly after taking office, he just ran it even higher up the proverbial flagpole than any other Republican dared. More than clerical, Trump’s expanded policy keeps $8.8 billion from going to organizations that either perform or refer women to abortion.
“Votes in America have international consequences,” said Susan B. Anthony President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “The Executive Memorandum implemented today is one of the reasons pro-life voters worked to elect Donald Trump to the White House.”
Former chair of the Trump campaign’s pro-life coalition and a frequent visitor to the Oval Office, Dannenfelser declared that the memorandum means the U.S. has officially “ceased exporting abortion to foreign nations.”
As social conservatives cheered the expanded policy, some started complaining that the move comes late—a full four months into Trump’s presidency. And there’s something to that. Why would Trump hold off on an opportunity to show up every single Republican president who has occupied the Oval Office since Roe v. Wade? Because Ivanka Trump said so.
“The palace intrigue behind the delay,” a source with knowledge of the policy making process said, “is because Ivanka kept spiking it.”
While some legal engineering was necessary to expand the Mexico City policy, the source told the Washington Examiner on condition of anonymity, that the memorandum was ready to roll months ago. Ivanka persuaded her father to hold off by insisting that the policy would hinder “her focus on women’s issues.”
But either Ivanka changed her own mind or got outgunned. On Monday, the State Department dropped the expanded policy, dubbed the “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance Initiative.” Not one to relent, the first daughter may have temporarily lost her father’s ear.
White House spokesman Michael Short wouldn’t comment on Ivanka’s involvement, pinning the delay instead on “additional interagency review.”
More advocate than policy wonk, Ivanka has remained mostly quiet on social issues to the chagrin of many on the Left. But in an April 5th CBS interview, Ivanka urged her critics “not to conflate lack of public denouncement with silence.”
A week after that interview, Ivanka raised the ire of the right and the hopes of the left when news broke of her secret meeting with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards. Since then the first daughter has endured backlash from both camps on the abortion issue.
Monday night though, anti-abortion groups responded positively to Trump’s decision to expand the Mexico City policy.
“We appreciate President Trump expanding this policy to end all taxpayer subsidies to international groups that commit and promote abortions,” said Live Action President Lila Rose. Adding during an interview with the the Washington Examiner that her requests to meet with Ivanka remain unanswered.
But face time with the first daughter might be a non-factor. Either Ivanka lost interest or lost the abortion debate in the Oval Office. Regardless, the president now espouses a bolder anti-abortion orthodoxy than any other Republican executive in history.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
