Exclusives

EXCLUSIVE: Conservative Groups Urge Legislators To Stop Funding Foreign Orgs Promoting Gender Ideology, Abortion

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Dozens of conservative leaders urged legislators to ensure the Biden administration stops funding abortion and gender ideology abroad through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in a letter shared exclusively with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

PEPFAR, initially enacted under President George W. Bush in an effort to fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa, has grown into the most costly foreign assistance program in history, spending $6.9 billion in fiscal year 2023, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Much of this funding goes toward groups that promote abortion and gender ideology, according to the letter, which was sent to U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee James Risch.

“We are concerned that grants from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) are used by nongovernmental organizations that promote abortions and push a radical gender ideology abroad. We urge you to ensure that any reauthorization of PEPFAR ensures that taxpayer money is not used for such purposes,” the letter read.

The letter was signed by leaders of 31 groups including the Heritage Foundation, American Principles Project and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

“Since President Reagan first instituted the Mexico City Policy in 1984, it has been the policy of the United States that taxpayer funds should not be used to perform or promote abortion abroad. It is imperative that a similar policy be applied to PEPFAR so that no grantees or subgrantees are using taxpayer funds to promote a radical sexual and reproductive health agenda,” the letter reads.

Funding pro-abortion and transgender activities through PEPFAR is part of the Biden administration’s broader push to enact its domestic social agenda overseas, Heritage visiting fellow Tim Meisburger argued in a recent report about the program. One top PEPFAR grantee, the South African group Anova Health, promoted abortions for children as young as 14 and opposed efforts to designate bathrooms by sex, according to the letter.

PEPFAR is up for reauthorization this year, with a vote expected in late May.

McCaul and Risch did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.