The US has joined an international coalition in signing the Geneva Consenus Declaration, affirming the right to life ahead of the World Health Assembly set to resume in November.

The declaration reads:

Having intended to gather on the margins of the 2020 World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland to review progress made and challenges to uphold the right to the highest attainable standards of health for women; to promote women’s essential contribution to health, and strength of the family and of a successful and flourishing society; and to express the essential priority of protecting the right to life, committing to coordinated efforts in multilateral fora;

US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar called the declaration “an historic document stating clearly where we as nations stand on women’s health, the family, honoring life, and defending national sovereignty,” because “it is the sovereign right of every nation to make their own laws in regard to abortion, absent external pressure.”

“The declaration is much more than a statement of beliefs; it is a critical and useful tool to defend these principles across all United Nations bodies and at every multilateral setting using language previously agreed to by member-states of those bodies,” Azar said Thursday during the signing ceremony.

One of the first executive orders of Donald Trump’s presidency was to reinstate the Mexico City policy, which blocks U.S. federal funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide abortion counseling or referrals, advocate to decriminalize abortion, or expand abortion services. The policy was instituted in 1984 under the Reagan Administration, then rescinded by Bill Clinton in 1993, reinstated 2001 by George W. Bush, rescinded again by Barack Obama in 2009.