On Jan. 23, President Barack Obama issued a memorandum withdrawing the Mexico City Policy. The Mexico City Policy prohibited organizations funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from using private, non-USAID funds to engage in activities including "providing advice, counseling, or information regarding abortion, or lobbying a foreign government to legalize or make abortion available." Foreign nonprofits, referred to as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), were already barred from using U.S. funds to pay for abortions as a method of family planning. However, the Mexico City Policy went further and ultimately restricted the free speech rights of government grantees.

Just hours after President Barack Obama took the oath of office on Jan. 20, new White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel issued a memo setting out the Obama administration's policy for dealing with some regulations left by the administration of President George W. Bush. The Emanuel memo puts a freeze on all regulations still in the pipeline and gives agencies leeway to deal with those Bush-era regulations already finalized but not yet being implemented. However, the memo does not address most of the controversial regulations finalized by the Bush administration in its last days; these rules are already in effect and impacting the nation.