Prohibits the use of foreign assistance to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortion. Note: meaning of “motivate” clarified by Leahy Amendment (1994); see below.
Permanent law, amendment to the FAA.
Also included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
Prohibits the use of funds to pay for involuntary sterilizations as a method of family planning or to coerce or provide a financial incentive to anyone to undergo sterilization.
Informed Choice & Consent; Incentives; Involuntary Sterilization
Permanent law, amendment to the FAA.
Also included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
Prohibits Peace Corps funding from paying for an abortion for a Peace Corps volunteer or trainee; beginning in FY 2015, allows for payment in cases where the life of the woman is endangered by pregnancy or in cases of rape or incest.1
Included under the “Peace Corps” heading of the State-Foreign Ops.
States that funds may not be used for biomedical research related to methods of or the performance of abortion or involuntary sterilization as a means of family planning.
Permanent law, amendment to the FAA.
Also included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
Prohibits the use of funds to lobby for or against abortion. When initially introduced, the amendment prohibited only lobbying for abortion, but in subsequent years Congress modified the language to include lobbying against abortion as well.
Included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
Requires that U.S. funds be provided to organizations that offer, either directly or through referral to, information about access to a broad range of family planning methods and services. See Livingston-Obey Amendment (1986) below.
Informed Choice
Included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
Prohibits funding any organization or program, as determined by the President, that supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.
Informed Choice & Consent; Involuntary Sterilization
Included in annual State-Foreign Ops.2 each year; Presidents determined that it applied to UNFPA in FY85-FY92, FY02-FY08, FY17-FY20, FY25.
Specifies that U.S. foreign assistance funding could be withheld from a country or organization if the president certifies that the use of such funds would violate key provisions of the FAA of 1961 related to abortion or involuntary sterilization (namely the Helms, Biden, and Involuntary Sterilization Amendments).
Informed Choice & Consent; Incentives; Abortion; Involuntary Sterilization
Included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
Prohibits discrimination by the U.S. government against organizations that offer only “natural family planning” for religious or conscientious reasons when the U.S. government is awarding related grants. All such applicants must comply with the requirements of the DeConcini Amendment (1985).
Informed Choice
Included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
Clarifies Helms Amendment (1973) language that uses the term “motivate” by stating that “motivate” shall not be construed to prohibit, where legal, the provision of information or counseling about all pregnancy options.
Informed Choice
Included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
Not more than half of funding designated for the U.S. contribution to UNFPA is to be released before a particular date (varies by fiscal year).
Sometimes included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
States that funds may not be made available to UNFPA unless:
– UNFPA keeps the U.S. contribution to the agency in a separate account, not to be commingled with other funds, and
– UNFPA does not fund abortions (note: language used beginning in FY00).
It also prohibits UNFPA from using any funds from the U.S. contribution in their programming in China.
Included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
Reduces the U.S. contribution to UNFPA by one dollar for every dollar that UNFPA spends on its programming in China.
Typically included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
Prohibits the use of targets/quotas and financial incentives3 in family planning projects and requires projects to provide comprehensible information on family planning methods. Protects people who choose not to use family planning from being denied rights or benefits and requires experimental family planning methods be provided only in the context of a scientific study. Intended to “promote voluntarism and prevent coercion in family planning programs,” it specifically prohibits three types of targets: total number of births, number of family planning acceptors, and acceptors of a particular method of family planning.4
Informed Choice & Consent; Incentives and Disincentives
Included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
Provides for funds not made available to UNFPA to be reallocated to USAID’s family planning, maternal, and reproductive health activities/services (and, in some years, assistance to vulnerable children and victims of trafficking in persons).5
Typically included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
Ensures that information provided by U.S.-supported programs about the use of condoms is medically accurate information and includes the public health benefits and failure rates of such use.
Typically included in annual State-Foreign Ops.
Outlines the longstanding USAID guidelines surrounding its fundamental programmatic principles of voluntarism and informed choice and consent.6
Informed Choice & Consent
Describes guidelines for informed consent and voluntarism specifically for voluntary sterilization services, including provisions to ensure ready access to other contraceptive methods and prohibiting incentive payments that might induce a person to select voluntary sterilization over another method.
Informed Choice & Consent; Voluntary Sterilization
As a condition for receiving U.S. family planning assistance, other global health assistance, and, now, also other U.S. foreign assistance (see “Applies to”), requires foreign NGOs and, now, U.S. NGOs, international organizations, foreign governments, and parastatals to certify that they will not provide or promote abortion as a method of family planning using funds from any source.
The latest iteration of the policy under the second Trump administration iss called “Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance” and falls under the broader umbrella of the “Protecting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance Policy” (PHFFA Policy), which also requires certain organizations to certify they will not provide or promote “gender ideology” and “discriminatory equity ideology,” among other activities.. Included in the U.S. Department of State Standard Terms and Conditions (see entry below), when applicable.
2017-2021: applied to all global health assistance.
2021-2025t: Not in effect.
2025-present: applied to most foreign assistance at the State Department.
Clarifies that post-abortion care – the treatment of injuries or illnesses caused by legal or illegal abortion – is permitted under the Helms Amendment and that any restrictions under the Mexico City Policy, when in force, do not limit organizations from treating injuries or illnesses caused by legal or illegal abortions (i.e., providing post-abortion care). Notes USAID does not finance manual vacuum aspiration equipment purchase/distribution for any purpose.
Outlines allowable uses of funds for FP/RH by providing a description of activities allowed and examples of activities not allowed, addressing not only FP/RH activities but also family planning activities’ integration with other global health and multisectoral activities.
Outline requirements that must be attached to assistance agreements, including language implementing FP/RH legal and policy requirements described above (e.g., the Helms and Leahy Amendments.)9
Informed Choice & Consent; Incentives; Abortion; Involuntary Sterilization; Condoms; FP/RH Activities
Outline requirements that must be attached to assistance agreements, including language implementing FP/RH legal and policy requirements described above (e.g., the Helms and Siljander Amendments.)10
Includes the Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance Policy (PHFFA Policy) – in effect as of Feb. 26, 2026 – for foreign NGOs, U.S. NGOs, international organizations, and, when applicable, foreign governments and parastatals.
Informed Choice & Consent; Incentives; Abortion; Involuntary Sterilization; FP/RH Activities
