Presidential Documents

33077 

Federal Register 

Vol. 86, No. 119 

Thursday, June 24, 2021 

Title 3— 

The President 

Memorandum of January 28, 2021 

Protecting Women’s Health at Home and Abroad 

Memorandum for the Secretary of State[,] the Secretary of Defense[,] the 

Secretary of Health and Human Services[, and] the Administrator of the 

United States Agency for International Development 

Section 1. Policy. Women should have access to the healthcare they need. 

For too many women today, both at home and abroad, that is not possible. 

Undue restrictions on the use of Federal funds have made it harder for 

women to obtain necessary healthcare. The Federal Government must take 

action to ensure that women at home and around the world are able to 

access complete medical information, including with respect to their reproductive health. 

In the United States, Title X of the Public Health Services Act (42 U.S.C. 

300 to 300a–6) provides Federal funding for family planning services that 

primarily benefit low-income patients. The Act specifies that Title X funds 

may not be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning, 

but places no further abortion-related restrictions on recipients of Title X 

funds. See 42 U.S.C. 300a–6. In 2019, the Secretary of Health and Human 

Services finalized changes to regulations governing the Title X program 

and issued a final rule entitled ‘‘Compliance With Statutory Program Integrity 

Requirements,’’ 84 FR 7714 (Mar. 4, 2019) (Title X Rule), which prohibits 

recipients of Title X funds from referring patients to abortion providers 

and imposes other onerous requirements on abortion providers. The Title 

X Rule has caused the termination of Federal family planning funding for 

many women’s healthcare providers and puts women’s health at risk by 

making it harder for women to receive complete medical information. 

It is the policy of my Administration to support women’s and girls’ sexual 

and reproductive health and rights in the United States, as well as globally. 

The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b(f)(1)), prohibits nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that receive Federal funds from using 

those funds ‘‘to pay for the performance of abortions as a method of family 

planning, or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions.’’ The 

August 1984 announcement by President Reagan of what has become known 

as the ‘‘Mexico City Policy’’ directed the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to expand this limitation and withhold USAID 

family planning funds from NGOs that use non-USAID funds to perform 

abortions, provide advice, counseling, or information regarding abortion, 

or lobby a foreign government to legalize abortion or make abortion services 

more easily available. These restrictions were rescinded by President Clinton 

in 1993, reinstated by President George W. Bush in 2001, and rescinded 

by President Obama in 2009. President Trump substantially expanded these 

restrictions by applying the policy to global health assistance provided by 

all executive departments and agencies (agencies). These excessive conditions 

on foreign and development assistance undermine the United States’ efforts 

to advance gender equality globally by restricting our ability to support 

women’s health and programs that prevent and respond to gender-based 

violence. The expansion of the policy has also affected all other areas 

of global health assistance, limiting the United States’ ability to work with 

local partners around the world and inhibiting their efforts to confront 

serious health challenges such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, among 

others. Such restrictions on global health assistance are particularly harmful 


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in light of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19) pandemic. Accordingly, 

I hereby order as follows: 

Sec. 2. Agency Revocations and Other Actions. (a) The Secretary of Health 

and Human Services shall review the Title X Rule and any other regulations 

governing the Title X program that impose undue restrictions on the use 

of Federal funds or women’s access to complete medical information and 

shall consider, as soon as practicable, whether to suspend, revise, or rescind, 

or publish for notice and comment proposed rules suspending, revising, 

or rescinding, those regulations, consistent with applicable law, including 

the Administrative Procedure Act. 

(b) The Presidential Memorandum of January 23, 2017 (The Mexico City 

Policy), is revoked. 

(c) The Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of 

Health and Human Services, the Administrator of USAID, and appropriate 

officials at all other agencies involved in foreign assistance shall take all 

steps necessary to implement this memorandum, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law. This shall include the following actions with 

respect to conditions in assistance awards that were imposed pursuant to 

the January 2017 Presidential Memorandum and that are not required by 

the Foreign Assistance Act or any other law: 

(i) immediately waive such conditions in any current grants; 

(ii) notify current grantees, as soon as possible, that these conditions 

have been waived; and 

(iii) immediately cease imposing these conditions in any future assistance 

awards. 

(d) The Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of 

Health and Human Services, and the Administrator of USAID, as appropriate 

and consistent with applicable law, shall suspend, revise, or rescind any 

regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar 

agency actions that were issued pursuant to the January 2017 Presidential 

Memorandum. 

(e) The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 

in a timely and appropriate manner, shall withdraw co-sponsorship and 

signature from the Geneva Consensus Declaration (Declaration) and notify 

other co-sponsors and signatories to the Declaration and other appropriate 

parties of the United States’ withdrawal. 

(f) The Secretary of State, consistent with applicable law and subject 

to the availability of appropriations, shall: 

(i) take the steps necessary to resume funding to the United Nations 

Population Fund; and 

(ii) work with the Administrator of USAID and across United States Government foreign assistance programs to ensure that adequate funds are being 

directed to support women’s health needs globally, including sexual and 

reproductive health and reproductive rights. 

(g) The Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Health 

and Human Services, shall provide guidance to agencies consistent with 

this memorandum. 

Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be 

construed to impair or otherwise affect: 

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, 

or the head thereof; or 

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. 

(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable 

law and subject to the availability of appropriations. 

(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right 

or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by 


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any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, 

its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. 

(d) The Secretary of State is authorized and directed to publish this 

memorandum in the Federal Register. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

Washington, January 28, 2021 

[FR Doc. 2021–13638 

Filed 6–23–21; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 4710–10–P 


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