Before we talk about the White House Women’s Task Force, let’s talk about what President Donald Trump and Secretary RFK, Jr have done to women’s health.
“Recent actions by the Trump administration and Congress reflect a shift away from prioritizing maternal and infant health equity and may contribute to widening disparities.”
Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Health: Current Status and Key Issues
They have:
Weakened federal guidance protecting pregnant women during medical emergencies by rescinding Biden-era guidance explaining hospitals' obligations under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) to pregnant women.
Withheld federal family-planning funding
Enacted Medicaid changes that will threaten women's healthcare access
Temporarily blocked Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health providers
Reinstated restrictions on international reproductive health organizations
Removed the routine COVID-19 vaccination recommendation for pregnant women, even though ACOG still says that pregnancy increases the risk of severe COVID-19 and the AAP says that vaccination during pregnancy protects women and provides antibodies that help protect newborns.
Disrupted federal maternal-health surveillance programs
Ended federal support for the Safe to Sleep campaign
Changed federal women's health information and removed “crucial evidence-based maternal health and reproductive health care information.”
Added new conditions to family-planning grants which will interfere with comprehensive contraceptive counseling and other healthcare services
And then there is Trump’s new Women’s Health Division at NIH.
A new division that is hardly historic and basically just restructures women’s health research offices that have been at NIH for some time now.
“President Donald J. Trump, with the leadership and support of First Lady Melania Trump, today signed an executive order, Advancing Women’s Health to Improve Outcomes in All Phases of Life, which directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a new Women’s Health Division within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to strengthen scientific research, accelerate medical breakthroughs, and improve health outcomes for American women and girls.”
President Trump Signs Historic Executive Order to Advance Women’s Health, Championed by First Lady Melania Trump
If you remember, we have had the:
NIH Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) since 1990 to coordinate research on diseases affecting women and ensure their inclusion in clinical studies.
HHS Office on Women's Health (OWH) since 1991 to coordinate women's health policy, education, prevention, and healthcare initiatives.
White House Initiative on Women's Health Research since 2023
And since Trump didn’t announce any new funding, it’s not clear how his ‘new’ Office of Research on Women’s Health will help improve women’s health, especially as he put RFK, Jr in charge.
“Kennedy’s philandering has been well documented in three of his diaries exclusively seen by The Post after his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, took her own life in 2012.”
Inside RFK Jr.’s secret sex diaries — including the codes he used for women while grappling with his ‘lust demons’
After all, if they were serious about improving women’s health, Trump would put someone in charge who actually has some experience and he would increase the percentage of funds being spent on women’s health.
More on Women’s Health
HHS Public Health Policy Actions Under the Trump Administration 2025-2026
Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Health: Current Status and Key Issues
ACOG Statement on HHS Recommendations Regarding the COVID Vaccine During Pregnancy
The Sunsetting of the Federal Planned Parenthood Medicaid Ban Shifts Decisions to States
Gates Foundation to Invest $2.5 billion in Women’s Health Amid Debilitating US Funding Cuts
Anti-Vaccine Ladies Club would be a better name.