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MARCO WERMAN: I'm Marco Werman. This is The World. President Obama is expected to issue an executive order today that repeals a so-called “Mexico City” policy. That's the rule, first announced at a conference in the Mexico capitol, that bans US government funding for international groups that perform or provide information on abortions. Critics call it the “global gag rule.” The World's Jason Margolis has our story, but before we hear from Jason, a word of warning: our report includes some graphic language.

JASON MARGOLIS: President Reagan first signed the Mexico City policy in 1984. President Clinton repealed it. President George W. Bush then reinstated the policy. Now, President Obama is repealing it once again. This is welcome news to people like Adrienne Germain, President of the International Women's Health Coalition. She says repealing the policy will restore vital American financing to many foreign NGOs that had been cut off.

ADRIENNE GERMAIN: Because these Non-Governmental Organizations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America not only serve thousands of people, but they often model the best quality programs – of family planning, of work with adolescents on sexuality education, and basic healthcare needs.

MARGOLIS: Women's rights advocates add that even if a medical expert is unavailable, women find ways to get abortions. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 67,000 women die each year from unsafe abortions, and 5 million suffer grave injuries. Elizabeth McGuire is the President of IPAS, an international organization dedicated to ending deaths from botched abortions.

ELIZABETH MCGUIRE: Women who are not able to get access to safe abortion care will resort to desperate measures. And these include inserting sticks in their uterus, drinking poisonous liquids, poisonous herbs, or indeed having somebody stand on their stomachs. Anything that they can do to end an unwanted pregnancy. It's really tragic what women will do.

MARGOLIS: Despite this, not everybody thinks the repeal of the Mexico City policy is a good idea. Tom McClusky, with the Family Research Council, a Christian organization in Washington, says he's disappointed with Mr. Obama's action.

TOM MCCLUSKY: I mean, it comes as no surprise, unfortunately, except it certainly flies in the face of his arguments during the campaign that he wanted to reduce abortions. The more you subsidize abortion and groups that promote abortion, the more abortion numbers increase.

MARGOLIS: McClusky says American taxpayers shouldn't have to fund family-planning programs overseas that offer or promote abortion. He adds that the Mexico City policy does allow American-financed NGOs to provide referrals for abortion in cases of rape, incest, or when a mother's life is threatened by a pregnancy. Practically speaking, it will take several months for the policy to have any real effect on the ground. Nick Eberstadt, at the conservative Washington think tank The American Enterprise Institute, argues that it won't have a positive or a negative effect.

NICK EBERSTADT: There were no strong indications from data gathering health-focused organizations that the imposition of the gag rule or Mexico City policy with the advent of the George W. Bush administration, had adverse impacts or consequences on local health. If there had been, we would have heard a lot about that.

MARGOLIS: Eberstadt argues that people in many rural areas in the developing world are opposed to abortion anyhow. So, he says, the policy change is unlikely to have a major impact on the healthcare there.—a point that will surely continue to be debated as funding becomes available. For The World, I'm Jason Margolis.

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