9. Agency for International Development · Notable
Continue applying the Helms Amendment as a complete abortion funding ban
Printed page 261 9. Agency for International Development
“In addition, the Helms Amendment should continue to be applied, as it has been by both Republican and Democratic Administrations for more than 50 years, as a complete ban on the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions abroad.”
What has happened
- Done
Congress re-enacted it verbatim. Section 7018 of the FY2026 act provides that "[n]one of the funds made available to carry out part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, may be used to pay for the performance of abortions as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions", and the operating-expenses proviso adds that nothing in it "shall be construed to alter any existing statutory prohibitions against abortion under section 104 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961".
- Done
The Helms restriction was left intact and reinforced: the Mexico City Policy memorandum reinstated the 2017 policy and directed the Secretary of State to ensure taxpayer dollars do not fund organizations or programs supporting coercive abortion, without disturbing section 104 of the Foreign Assistance Act.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- A “continue” ask is done while the thing continues (the same reading #568 uses for FISA 702).
- The 2026 Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance rule reads limited exceptions - rape, incest and life endangerment - into its own defined term “abortion as a method of family planning”; those are the Mexico City Policy’s long-standing exceptions and apply “only … for purposes of this rule”, not to the Helms Amendment itself.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- Helms Amendment
- ID
- 676