For decades, US anti-abortion groups have lobbied domestically and abroad for restricting access to abortion. In the US, their biggest success was the reversal of Roe v Wade. Now, the Trump administration is delivering new momentum to the movement exporting “family values” to nations overseas.At anti-abortion activists’ annual March for Life demonstration in Washington, US Vice-President JD Vance announced sweeping new restrictions on US funding for non-governmental organisations, foreign governments and UN agencies that promote access to abortion, gender-affirming care and diversity initiatives overseas.“We’re going to start blocking every international NGO that performs or promotes abortion abroad from receiving a dollar of US money,” Vance told the crowd in January.The expanded restrictions build on the anti-abortion advocacy work carried out by conservative US nonprofits abroad — especially in Africa, where healthcare is highly dependent on foreign aid. The region has the world’s highest estimated proportion of unsafe abortions and highest maternal mortality rates — including the highest number of maternal deaths per 1,00,000 abortions.This is part of a series on maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, which has the world’s fastest-growing population and accounts for 70 per cent of global maternal deaths. Around 1,80,000 pregnancy deaths are recorded every year in the continent. The new rules represent an expansion of earlier US policies that cut assistance to groups providing abortion-related services. Experts say at least $30 billion in US aid could be affected, reshaping health policies worldwide.“We’re seeing opportunity here to have a consistently pro-life ethic,” Nicole Hunt of Colorado-based Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian evangelical group, said.In the crosshairs is an international convention signed by African countries two decades ago declaring safe abortion a human right. Known as the Maputo Protocol, it obliges signatory nations to legalise abortion in cases of rape, incest, fetal malformation or risk to a woman’s health. But implementation has been spotty, forcing women to seek illicit procedures. Every year, sub-Saharan Africa records over 6 million unsafe abortions, according to the African Institute for Development Policy. Emboldened by President Donald Trump’s policies, US anti-abortion groups now aim to overturn even the limited access to safe abortion.In Nairobi, Nardos Hagos of the International Planned Parenthood Federation said she was deeply worried for the future.“We’re (going to) see more women dying from unsafe abortions,” she said.