Mexico City Policy. Senator Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) offered an amendment to the Children’s Health Insurance bill to reinstate the so-called Mexico City Policy, which newly inaugurated President Barack Obama had overturned on January 23, 2009 via executive order. The overturned policy barred the distribution of U.S. foreign aid to organizations that “perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning.”
The Senate rejected the Martinez amendment by a vote of 37-60 on January 28, 2009 (Roll Call 19). We have assigned pluses to the yeas not only because foreign aid is unconstitutional, but because the amendment would have helped to protect the right to life.
