Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put new pressure Tuesday on overseas abortion providers by announcing an expansion of the U.S. policy that stops taxpayer dollars from funding foreign family-planning clinics that terminate pregnancies.

Despite the Trump administration's 2017 readoption of what's known as the Mexico City Policy, officials found that some nongovernmental organizations that don't perform abortions were using State Department grants to make pass-through payments to those that do.

Pompeo called those arrangements 'back-door funding schemes and end-runs around our policy.'

Tuesday's clampdown, he told reporters in a brief press conference, is a bid to 'continue to meet our critical global health goals, including providing health care for women, while refusing to subsidize the killing of unborn babies.'

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced an during a news conference on Tuesday that the State Department is expanding a policy meant to prevent the use of U.S. tax dollars for abortions overseas

Abortion has beena hot-button issue in the U.S. for more than four decades; the State Department's crackdown means an end of funding for groups that pass American government grant money through to abortion providers

'As before, we'll continue to refuse to provide assistance to foreign NGOs who perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning,' he said, adding that the State Department also 'will refuse to provide assistance to foreign NGOs that give financial support to other foreign groups in the global abortion industry.'

Opponents of the Mexico City Policy call it a 'global gag rule,' arguing that it prevents U.S.-funded groups from even discussing the availability of abortion as a viable option for pregnant women in the Third World.

'That's silly,' Pompeo said Tuesday, referring to the nickname. 'This is this is a policy that is designed fundamentally to protect human beings.'

The policy was first enacted in 1984 and later became a partican punching bag, with Democratic presidents hamstringing it and Republicans enforcing it.

A group of Irish pro-life protesters objected in February as their side lost a dramatic referendum establishing abortion rights

Barack Obama formally rescinded it when he became president, only to see Donald Trump reinstate it on his first day in office.

A group of 150 Democratic House and Senate women proposed a bill in February that would permanently repeal the policy that has slashed access to abortion at U.S. taxpayers' expense.

They claimed it has unintended consequences, including forcing the closure of health clinics and refugee programs that have refused to go along with restrictions from Washington.

'Permanent repeal of this anti-woman policy is more important now than ever before,' New York Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey said when she introduced her bill.

Pompeo dismissed those concerns on Tuesday, responding to complaints about financial difficulties felt by clinics that help fight HIV and tuberculosis infections.

'These two don't run at cross purposes,' he said. 'One need not perform abortions in order to protect people from HIV. They're fundamentally disconnected.'

'The theory that somehow not protecting every human life is destroying human life is perverse on its face,' he argued.

The pro-life movement cheered Pompeo on Tuesday.

Susan B. Anthony List List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement that Americans 'have clearly and consistently voiced their opposition to taxpayer funding of the abortion industry, both at home and abroad.'

'Money is fungible,' she observed, praising Pompeo for ensuring that tax dollars 'are actually used for health assistance, not funneled to groups that push abortion.'

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins claimed that '[t]he abortion industry is well known for relentlessly pursuing taxpayer dollars – and will exploit any opportunity to grab U.S. taxpayer funds.'

'Thankfully, President Trump and Secretary Pompeo are just as relentless in working to ensure taxpayers aren't forced into a partnership with the abortion industry overseas,' he said.

Pro-life demonstrators wore red tape over their mouths outside the U.S. Supreme Court during the 46th annual March for Life on Jan. 18

Planned Parenthood Federation of America president Leana Wen said Tuesday that the State Department's move is 'unethical, dangerous, and unacceptable.'

Wen said 'there are countless examples around the world of patients losing access to health care,' as a consequence of the Mexico City Policy, 'especially in places where maternal deaths, HIV rates, and unmet need for contraception are unacceptably high.'

A Planned Parenthood spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for some of those examples.

Pompeo also said Tuesday that the State Department has reduced its financial support for the Organization of American States to compensate for the organization's use of U.S. Aid for International Development money to support pro-abortion lobby groups.

Nine Republican senators wrote to Pompeo in February to complain that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Women were getting OAS money to 'aggressively lobby pro-life sovereign nations to legalize abortion.'

The OAS is a diplomatic association of 35 nations from North, South and Central America. The United States government is its biggest single funder.

The Siljander Amendment to the 1981 Foreign Assistance Act prohibits spending funds 'to lobby for or against abortion.'