More Pregnant Women Around the World Die When the U.S. Has a GOP President

In 1985, when then-president Ronald Reagan first implemented the Mexico City policy—thus blocking federal funding for any aid organization that provides abortion services—it was slammed as a betrayal of America’s commitment to global health, and quickly labeled the global “gag rule,” which is what it’s referred to today.

Since then, every time the U.S. elects a Republican president, global maternal mortality increases by about 10.5%, according to a new study by the British Medical Journal, or about 44.7 additional deaths per 100,000 live births. This erodes roughly one-fifth of the average worldwide decline in maternal mortality achieved since 1985,” the study says. 

It also reveals how global family planning aid—which can be used to help fund clinics and provide birth control—drops under GOP presidents, while increasing 48% under Democratic ones. This is a reflection of how every Democrat in office has rescinded the global gag rule once they’re sworn in, only for Republicans to reinstate it. Trump did so days after assuming office, both times. In January, he also expanded the gag rule to include organizations his administration believes are promoting trans rights or DEI—or what the administration now considers human rights violations. 

The study further notes how, in his second term, Trump has made especially outsized cuts to foreign aid—projecting that over 90% of all USAID funds for family planning and reproductive health programs have been terminated since the start of 2025. On top of that, the administration’s sweeping cuts to PEPFAR have been linked to a growing number of babies being born with HIV, while the USAID cuts have ruined Ethiopia’s progress in eliminating its maternal mortality crisis. “Access to reproductive health services in developing countries now faces more severe challenges than ever before, particularly in the provision of family planning and related care,” the authors warn.  

None of this is made better by the fact that in January, Trump withdrew the U.S. from a number of United Nation groups specifically focused on women’s rights and sexual health–including UN Women and the UN Population Fund; or that the U.S. was the only country that voted agaisnt advancing women’s rights issues at the U.N.’s 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women earlier this month. Praying for a big blue wave in November…

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