12 'Groundbreaking' Pro-Life Accomplishments of President Trump

 Below is a summary of 12 of Trump’s most significant achievements to officially turn the United States into a nation that values the sanctity of all human life, born and unborn.

1.) Ended funding of groups that perform and promote abortion overseas
Days after his inauguration, Trump reinstated the “Mexico City Policy,” one that prohibits any non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive U.S. aid from performing and promoting abortion overseas. Beyond reinstating that policy, Trump expanded it to the new Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance program by directing the Secretary of State to ensure the ban on taxpayer funds for overseas abortions is in place across most U.S. global health programs that provide assistance.

2.) Appointed pro-life judges
In the final presidential debate of 2016, Trump stated, “I am pro-life, and I will be appointing pro-life judges.” During his first term, Trump nominated three judges to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Neil Gorsuch was successfully confirmed in April 2017, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh in October 2018. The Senate will vote Monday, October 26, to confirm the president’s third nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. The Heritage Foundation reported that, as of October 21, Trump’s federal judiciary confirmations number 218.

As Breitbart News reported Tuesday, by the end of his first term, Trump will have confirmed more judges to the federal judiciary in one term than any recent U.S. president.


3.). Signed a resolution that allows states to end Planned Parenthood’s family planning funding
In April 2017, Trump signed a resolution overturning an Obama rule forcing states to grant Title X family planning funds to Planned Parenthood. Though Planned Parenthood and its allies have challenged this policy, Trump’s move marked a stark contrast to the Obama-era policies that overwhelmingly supported abortion on demand and referred to it as “women’s health care.”

4.) Defunded the pro-abortion United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Trump’s State Department has ended U.S. funding of UNFPA – an agency that human rights activists have linked to the support of population control programs such as China’s coercive abortion “one-child policy.”

5.) Required health insurance companies to reveal plans that cover abortion.
The Trump Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) issued a rule in 2018 that required health insurers to specify whether its plans cover abortion. Affordable Care Act plans that provide coverage for elective abortions are required to collect a separate payment from enrollees for that coverage, as the Obamacare law required as well. The Obama administration, however, failed to enforce the law, permitting collection of abortion coverage premiums along with regular insurance premiums. “Thanks to this trickery, millions of Americans have unwittingly purchased plans without knowing about the hidden abortion surcharge,” said Dannenfelser at the time the rule was finalized. “Consumers deserve to know how Obamacare pays for abortion so they can avoid having their hard-earned dollars used to fund the destruction of innocent lives.”

6.). New rules regarding HHS contraceptive mandate
The Trump departments of HHS, Treasury, and Labor issued two interim final rules that provided protection from the HHS contraceptive mandate for both religious objectors, such as the Little Sisters of the Poor, and moral objectors, such as pro-life organizations. The new rule also exempted private employers and educational institutions that have sincerely held religious beliefs or moral objections against providing contraceptives or abortifacient drugs.

7.) New Office for Conscience Protection at HHS
In January 2018, the Trump HHS established the Conscience and Religious Freedom division of the Office for Civil Rights, which works to protect health care providers who do not wish to participate in abortions from discrimination.

8.). Established that abortion is not family planning
In February 2019, the Trump HHS released a rule that would block about $60 million in family planning funding to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers who refer girls and women for abortions. The regulation, which governs Title X, the federal grant program that provides funding for family planning services, prohibited the use of the funds to “perform, promote, refer for, or support abortion as a method of family planning.” The rule reinstated President Ronald Reagan’s “Protect Life Rule,” which barred the “co-location” of federally funded family planning clinics with abortion clinics.

9.) Ending taxpayer-funded research using bodies of aborted babies
In June 2019, the Trump HHS announced it would no longer provide taxpayer funding for research in its programs that use human fetal tissue derived from the body parts of aborted babies. In addition to ending research using fetal tissue from elective abortions at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), HHS also said the agency will be applying a rigorous review protocol as it considers funding for research outside of its department.

10.) Clarified abortion is not a civil right
In June, the Trump administration finalized a rule that reversed the Obama administration’s definition of sex discrimination by eliminating both “gender identity” and “termination of pregnancy,” or abortion. The rule protects health care entities that receive federal funding from being required to participate in, or pay for, abortions.

11.) Became the first president to appear in person to address the March for Life
In January, Trump became the first U.S. president to speak at the March for Life in Washington, DC, the largest pro-life event in the nation.

12.) Signed executive order protecting infants born alive
In September, Trump announced during the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast he would sign an executive order ensuring all babies born alive, whether prematurely or surviving abortion, receive the medical care they need. The president stated: “Today I am announcing that I will be signing the Born-Alive executive order to ensure that all precious babies born alive, no matter their circumstances, receive the medical care that they deserve. This is our sacrosanct moral duty. We are also increasing federal funding for the neonatal research to ensure that every child has the very best chance to thrive and to grow. I will always protect the vital role of religion and prayer in American society, And I will always defend the sacred right to life.”

Meanwhile, the president pledged in early September that he will defund Planned Parenthood if elected to a second term.