Trump Administration Redirects $605 Million in International Family Planning Aid

The administration of President Donald Trump has redirected most of the money Congress approved for international family planning programs this year — about $607.5 million — to other channels or withheld it, according to a preliminary fiscal year 2026 apportionment report and a memo addressed to lawmakers.

The report, titled "Preliminary Apportionment for Fiscal Year 2026," shows plans to transfer or redirect most of the $607.5 million that Congress allocated to provide contraception and reproductive health services to women outside the United States. The plans include moving nearly $1 billion to a global health innovation fund that benefits American companies, alongside a sharp cut in health funding for low- and middle-income countries.

According to a memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in September, the transfer of up to $125 million in foreign assistance was approved to support the "energy security needs" of partners facing disruptions in their markets because of the wars in Iran and Ukraine. More than $48 million of that amount is being deducted from family planning assistance.

In fiscal year 2024, U.S. investments in international family planning were estimated to have prevented 34,000 maternal deaths, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The plans show a sharp reduction in health assistance to most countries compared with 2024 levels; South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe recorded the largest cuts, each exceeding $100 million, while health funding fell to zero in eight countries since 2024: Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Gambia, South Africa, Somalia, Sudan, Timor-Leste and Yemen.

Vincent Lin, assistant director of health policy and advocacy at Partners In Health, said these steps "contradict what the appropriations committees wrote into the bills." He added: "The executive branch is blatantly not spending the money that Congress wrote into law for a very specific purpose."

Representative Lois Frankel, a Democrat from Florida and a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said that "the Trump administration's refusal to spend money Congress allocated for international family planning" is shameful and dangerous, as the law requires.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said the administration "continuously assesses the use of foreign assistance to ensure it is being used to meet critical needs," including unforeseen emergencies such as the current global energy crisis. He added that the focus is on providing life-saving care, "including HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, and maternal and child health."

Public Citizen prepared an analysis of the report in cooperation with Partners In Health and the rights organization PAI, and sued the U.S. State Department to force it to publish records of bilateral health agreements. Over the past two years, $1.35 billion that had been earmarked for global health programs was redirected to cover the cost of shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development.