Vice President JD Vance delivers a speech during the annual March for Life rally on the National Mall in Washington, DC on January 23, 2026. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration plans to expand a policy that prevents foreign aid money from flowing to organizations that discuss, refer or perform abortions to include groups that work on transgender health care or have diversity, equity and inclusion policies, Vice President JD Vance said Friday.
“We are expanding this policy to protect lives, combat DEI, and combat the radical gender ideologies that exploit our children. And with these additions, the rule now covers any non-military foreign aid that America sends,” Vance announced at the anti-abortion March for Life rally on the National Mall.
“All in all, we have expanded the Mexico City policy about three times as much as before,” he added. “And we are proud of it because we believe in fighting for life.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request from the State newsroom for further details on the expansion of the policy or when it would be implemented.
Defense of the administration’s act
Vance said during the rally that he had to “address an elephant in the room” that President Donald Trump and others in the administration have not made enough progress on anti-abortion initiatives in the first year of unified Republican control of the federal government.
“I want you to know that I hear you and understand you,” he said. “There will inevitably be debates within this movement. We love each other. But we will have open conversations about how we can best use our political system to promote life and how thoughtful we need to be in promoting human life. I think these are good, natural and honest debates.”
Vance mentioned that Trump nominated some of the Supreme Court justices who upheld Roe v. Wade overturned the 1973 case that had guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion for nearly 50 years.
He also pointed out that Republicans in Congress included a provision in the “big, beautiful” bill that would prevent Medicaid funds from going to Planned Parenthood for any type of health care for a year. With a few exceptions, federal law had already banned the financing of abortions.
Vance argued that in addition to court rulings and federal laws, members of the anti-abortion movement must also strive to change hearts and minds.
“We are no longer trying to argue before the Supreme Court,” he said. “We are trying to convey to our fellow citizens that we have to build this culture of life. And as you know, this effort will take a lot of time, a lot of energy and a little money.”
Later in his speech, Vance tried to discourage people from focusing on professional life and instead urged them to focus more on marriage and children.
“You will never find much meaning in a cubicle or in front of a computer screen,” he said. “But you will find great meaning when you dedicate yourself to creating and sustaining human life.”
Trump did not attend the rally in person, but recorded a video message that played immediately before Vance’s speech, telling attendees that six years ago he was “proud to be the first president in history to attend this march in person.”
“In my first term, I had the honor of appointing judges who believed in interpreting the Constitution as written. That was a big deal. And in doing so, the pro-life movement won the greatest victory in its history,” Trump said. “Now the work of rebuilding a culture that supports life continues in every state, every community and every part of our beautiful country.”
Demands measures for medical abortion
Trump and some in his administration have come under fire recently for not moving more quickly to complete a safety review of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortions that are approved for exploit in pregnancy up to 10 weeks.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and Lila Rose, founder of the anti-abortion group Live Action, both released statements in December calls on Trump to shoot Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary on the pace of this review.
Anti-abortion groups want the government to remove the ability of doctors or other qualified health care providers to prescribe and ship mifepristone and misoprostol, the second medication abortion drug, to patients via telemedicine.
Several Republicans in Congress have joined her call, including Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., hold a hearing on mifepristone earlier this month.
The US Supreme Court rejected efforts of anti-abortion organizations called for restricting access to mifepristone in a June 2024 ruling, writing that they had no authority to file the lawsuit in the first place.
Trump told Republicans in the House of Representatives During a policy retreat at the Kennedy Center earlier this month, they will need to be “flexible” on the Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funding for abortion with few exceptions, to negotiate a health care deal that can reach his desk.
Dannenfelser rebuked Trump for the comment, writing in a statement that “suggesting that Republicans be ‘flexible’ represents an abandonment of that decades-long commitment. If Republicans abandon Hyde, they will surely lose this November.”
GOP leaders advocate for major legislation
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also spoke at the March for Life rally, hailing the “big, beautiful” bill as “the most pro-life, pro-family legislation enacted in decades.”
“For the first time since the repeal of Roe v. Wade, the White House, Senate and House are all working together to achieve meaningful and historic pro-life victories,” he said.
The bill included several policies that Johnson said would aid Americans have children, including an expansion of the child tax credit and the adoption tax credit, as well as the Investment accounts for babies.
Johnson said the provision blocking Medicaid patients from turning to Planned Parenthood for non-abortion health services, depriving the organization of that income, was a huge political victory for Republicans.
“We stand here today with a unified voice and affirm that the federal government should not subsidize an industry that profits from the destruction of human life,” Johnson said.
New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith said shortly after Johnson, while other Republican lawmakers were on stage, that access to mifepristone needed to be blocked.
“I’ve been here since Ronald Reagan was first elected in 1981,” Smith said. “And I can tell you, this leadership is the most pro-life, so committed. And behind me are just absolute heroes. Men and women who take up the fight every day.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., did not attend the rally in person but submitted a video touting the plan to defund Planned Parenthood.
“Thanks to this groundbreaking legislation, some of the nation’s largest abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, are prohibited from receiving Medicaid funding this year,” Thune said.
Other Republicans who attended the rally included Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt, Arkansas Rep. French Hill, Florida Rep. Kat Cammack, Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, Michigan Rep. Bill Huizenga and Tim Walberg, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Fischbach, Missouri Rep. Bob Onder, Pennsylvania Rep. Dan Meuser, South Carolina Rep. William Timmons, South Carolina Rep. Michael Cloud and Utah Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Virginia Rep. Mike Kennedy, Virginia Rep. John McGuire and Wisconsin Rep. Glenn Grothman.
