The head of a Canadian pro-choice organization is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step up and advocate for access to safe abortions abroad in light of U.S. President Donald Trump today reinstating a policy that bans groups receiving American foreign aid from advocating for safe access to the service.

The Liberals campaigned on a promise to protect a woman’s right to choose domestically and pledged to “cover the full range of reproductive health services as part of the [Maternal and Newborn Child Health] initiatives” launched by the former Conservative government, which did not include support for abortion in the program.

Yet an announcement of $81.6 million towards the United Nations Population Fund in March 2016 did not include money earmarked for supporting safe abortions — although UN Undersecretary-General Babatunde Osotimehin said some of the money could technically be used to support existing abortion services in countries where it is legal.

“The Canadian government needs to help fill the moral gap created by the Trump administration by investing more to save women’s lives,” said Joyce Arthur, executive director of the Abortion Rights Council of Canada. “Canada can’t do it alone — developed nations around the world should be prepared to step up their foreign aid programs to advance women’s rights and health around the world.

“We know from the past that when the ‘Global Gag Rule’ is in place, unsafe abortions increase, along with maternal mortality.”

The Global Gag Rule — officially known as the ‘Mexico City policy’ — was first implemented in 1984 under U.S. President Ronald Reagan and incoming administrations since then have repeatedly both repealed and reinstated it based on where their party stands on the issue of abortion.

At its core, the policy bars foreign organizations that receive American family-planning funds “from providing counselling or referrals for abortion or advocating for access to abortion services in their country.”

The move comes two days after more than 3.2 million protestors in roughly 500 cities around the world took part in peaceful demonstrations in support of women’s rights, LGBT rights, immigrant rights and civil rights.

The Women’s March on Washington, which included both men and women, was pegged at three times the size of the crowds drawn to the capital the day before to watch the inauguration of Trump.

In Canada, similar protests appeared in cities from coast to coast.

Trudeau congratulated the march participants on Twitter, saying the show of solidarity was inspiring.

Congratulations to the women and men across Canada who came out yesterday to support women’s rights. You keep your government inspired. — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 22, 2017

But Arthur said that, despite his support for feminism and women’s rights here at home, Trudeau could and should do more as the U.S. clamps down on how organizations receiving federal money can use it.

“I am disappointed that Trudeau hasn’t done more in expanding funding for reproductive health in general and specifically for safe abortion,” she said, saying Canada should be playing a leading role in advocacy for safe abortions. “I’d really like to see Canada take the lead on the world stage in advocating for the decriminalization of abortion around the world. We have no criminal laws against abortion in Canada and it works great here.”

This year marks the 29th anniversary of the Canadian Supreme Court ruling that struck down legal limits on abortion.

Polls have suggested repeatedly that Canadians support the right of women to choose whether to end a pregnancy; one recent poll done last spring by Ipsos suggested 57 per centsay a woman should be able to have an abortion whenever she chooses, while 21 per cent said it should be permitted in certain cases such as rape.

Eight per cent said it should only be allowed if the mother’s life is in danger and only three per cent said abortion should never be allowed.

Another polling firm, EKOS, published data in 2010 that suggested 52 per cent of Canadian respondents called themselves ‘pro-choice’ — a number unchanged over the previous decade; 27 per cent said they were ‘pro-life’, 10 per cent were neither and 11 per cent either did not know or did not respond.

Fifty-seven per cent of Canadians polled endorse a women’s right to choose — up almost 10 points from 2015 and up from 36 per cent from when the question was asked in 1998.

Speaking in his first full press conference since President Trump’s inauguration, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the decision to reinstate the Mexico City policy came because allowing support for abortion is “contrary to the values of this president.”

Arthur said leadership on the issue is badly needed — or women will be the ones who face the consequences.

“It doesn’t stop women from needing abortions for family planning or health reasons,” she said. “It just really impacts women’s health in a very very bad way and increases maternal deaths and morbidity.”

The government did not respond to an iPolitics request for comment by deadline, but said it was working to provide a response.

The federal cabinet retreat is underway in Calgary and will continue on Tuesday.