Tom Meinderts (Sciences Po-Paris)
The Mexico City Policy: From Family Planning to Family Values

Tom Meinderts is a PhD Candidate at Sciences Po, Paris and a lecturer at PPLE College, University of Amsterdam. His research investigates the confluence of American domestic politics and foreign policy in contemporary international history. 

In 1984, the Reagan Administration announced the creation of the Mexico City Policy. Also known as the Global Gag Rule, the policy bars US funding from being used by NGOs that 'perform or promote' abortions. Since its enactment, it has been rescinded by every Democratic Administration and reinstated by every Republican Administration. The paper analyses how one of the most partisan policies in American foreign relations was created and contested, and it investigates the longer history of how the US shifted away from championing international family planning to advocating for family values.