Ocean County Leader

Rep. Chris Smith has expressed support for President Donald Trump's recent executive order to reinstate the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) Policy. This policy, according to Smith, ensures that non-governmental organizations receiving U.S. government funds do not promote or perform abortions globally.

"Without this protection in place, NGOs receiving U.S. government funds promote and perform abortion throughout the world with massive subsidies from the United States," said Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Co-Chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. "By redirecting taxpayer dollars away from the abortion industry, President Trump has re-instituted a life-affirming protection consistent with the political consensus that taxpayer dollars should not fund abortion and the abortion industry."

The executive order by President Trump reinstates a policy previously reversed by President Joe Biden, who had allowed funding for organizations involved in promoting or performing abortions abroad.

"This powerful executive order ends abortion-President Joe Biden’s work to hijack global health funding to promote abortion on demand around the world," said Smith. "This includes the funding available through President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) where, last week it was revealed that Biden broke U.S. law to pay for abortions in Africa—a tip of the iceberg of the Biden-Harris anti-child activism at home and abroad."

Smith referenced a 2025 Marist poll indicating that 73% of Americans oppose using tax dollars to support abortions in other countries.

"Through PLGHA, President Trump demonstrates again that U.S. foreign policy can consistently provide compassionate, tangible assistance to women and children and rejects the grisly business of abortion," Smith stated. "Under President Trump, the United States will now once again work with organizations that share pro-life, pro-health principles instead of groups that place their abortion agenda ahead of true health care."