Latest news with #PlannedParenthoodFederationofAmerica
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
At least 20 Planned Parenthood clinics shutter amid political turbulence
At least 20 Planned Parenthood clinics across seven states have shuttered since the start of 2025 or have announced plans to close soon – closures that come amid immense financial and political turbulence for the reproductive health giant as the United States continues to grapple with the fallout from the end of Roe v Wade. The Planned Parenthood network, which operates nearly 600 clinics through a web of independent regional affiliates and is overseen by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, is facing a number of threats from the Trump administration. A Guardian analysis has found that Planned Parenthood closures have occurred or are in the works across six affiliates that maintain clinics in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Utah and Vermont. In late March, the Trump administration suddenly froze tens of millions of dollars in funding for nine Planned Parenthood affiliates, including at least two that have since closed clinics or are set to do so soon. The funding, which flowed from the federal family planning program Title X, was used to provide services such as contraception, cancer screenings and STI tests. 'The ways in which this administration is dismantling access to public health and public health information are really troubling and, frankly, force us to make these difficult decisions very quickly,' said Shireen Ghorbani, interim president of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, which saw $2.8m of its Title X funding – 20% of the affiliate's budget – frozen under the Trump administration. It has since closed two clinics as well as laid off a number of staffers who worked on initiatives like sex education. Last year, Ghorbani said, 26,000 Utahns received Title X-funded care at Planned Parenthood. Ghorbani does not believe that Utah's Republican-controlled state legislature will step in to create a substitute program. 'I will be shocked if a single cent is spent to make sure that people are able to control their health and their sexual and reproductive lives,' she said. Planned Parenthood's financial woes have raised eyebrows for some advocates of abortion rights and reproductive health. The organization has weathered several crises, including allegations of mismanagement, in the years since Roe collapsed – but as the face of US abortion access it continued to rake in donations. (Most abortions in the US are in fact performed by small 'independent' clinics, which are grappling with their own financial turmoil.) As of June 2023, the Planned Parenthood network had about $3bn in assets, according to its 2024 report. In April, Planned Parenthood of Michigan's announced that it would cut its staffing by 10% and close four clinics. Viktoria Koskenoja, an emergency medicine doctor who worked at one of the clinics that has closed, said that the closures came as 'a real shock'. 'It's sort of a frantic scramble right now to figure out where these patients are going to be able to go,' said Koskenoja, who lives in Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula. 'People are just going to get worse care for the time being, until we can figure something out.' She added: 'I think that if they had asked for money from the community to keep it open, people would have donated.' In a press release, Planned Parenthood of Michigan attributed the closures and layoffs to 'historic threats and cuts to federal funding'. The cuts to Title X, it said, 'deal a devastating financial blow to healthcare providers like PPMI'. But Planned Parenthood of Michigan was not among the Planned Parenthood affiliates that saw their Title X funding frozen. In Michigan, the federal government distributes Title X funding to the state's department of health and human services, which in turn doles money out to clinics, including those run by Planned Parenthood of Michigan. The Michigan department of health and human services has not seen a disruption in Title X funding. Planned Parenthood of Michigan did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the clinic closures and the role of Title X in those closures. The squeeze the organization is navigating may be about to tighten. Republicans at the national level are ramping up their campaign to 'defund' Planned Parenthood by kicking it out of Medicaid, the government insurance program for low-income people. Of the 2.4 million people treated at Planned Parenthood nationwide each year, nearly half rely on Medicaid. Related: Supreme court weighs South Carolina effort to defund Planned Parenthood Additionally, the supreme court is weighing a case involving an attempt by South Carolina to remove Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program over the organization's status as an abortion provider. If the high court greenlights South Carolina's move, it could pave the way for other red states to refuse to reimburse Planned Parenthood for Medicaid costs. In Congress, Republicans' 'one big beautiful' tax bill, which has passed the House of Representatives and is now being considered in the Senate, also includes a provision that would effectively bar organizations that offer abortions from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for other reproductive health services. The provision is so narrowly tailored – it only applies to organizations that received more than $1m in Medicaid reimbursements – that it would only affect Planned Parenthood. 'Plain and simple, this reconciliation bill is about attacking Planned Parenthood,' Alexis McGill Johnson, CEO and president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. If the tax bill passes as is, Planned Parenthood of Greater New York would lose about $20m and be forced to close clinics, according to Wendy Stark, the affiliate's CEO and president. 'Here we are, a few years post-Dobbs, and you're seeing health providers in [abortion] access states really struggle financially,' Stark said, referring to Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health, the supreme court decision that overturned Roe. 'That's not an accident, right? What's going on currently with the administration has been layered on top of existing threats and challenges.' Planned Parenthood of Greater New York is currently looking to sell its only Manhattan clinic. Medicaid and private insurance reimbursement rates, Stark said, were already too low, especially as the costs of medical supplies, insurance and rent have all risen in the years since the Covid pandemic. Last year, it cost the affiliate about $67m to provide healthcare services, but it only received about $36m in insurance reimbursements, she added. It shuttered four clinics in 2024.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Pedro Pascal, Olivia Rodrigo, Harry Styles, and 250 Others Sign Planned Parenthood Ad
More than 250 celebrity leaders from across multiple industries — including Olivia Rodrigo, Harry Styles, Pedro Pascal, and Addison Rae — have signed a full-page Planned Parenthood ad calling for support of the organization's lifesaving healthcare initiatives in response to threats under President Donald Trump. Rolling Stone exclusively reveals the list of signees behind the 'I'm for Planned Parenthood' ad, which runs Wednesday in The New York Times. Following the 'I'm for Planned Parenthood' sentence structure, the ad reads: 'Because I'm for freedom… because I'm for healthcare… because I'm for you and me — not the government — deciding what care we need and where we can get it.' Megan Thee Stallion, Billie Eilish, Meghan Trainor, Phoebe Bridgers, Clairo, Gracie Abrams, Sara Bareilles, Sheryl Crow, and Cyndi Lauper are among the musicians signing the ad. Scarlett Johansson, Laverne Cox, Cara Delevingne, Zoey Deutch, Melissa McCarthy, Natasha Lyonne, Christina Ricci, Alfre Woodard, Alexandra Shipp, and Julianne Nicholson led the list of actors standing behind the letter. 'Trans people need health care providers they can trust, just like everyone else. Planned Parenthood health centers are a lifeline for so many across this country who rely on them for inclusive care,' Laverne Cox said in a statement. 'I'm for Planned Parenthood because they provide a space for queer people to feel safe, supported, and affirmed in who they truly are.' Karlie Kloss, Shonda Rhimes, Gloria Steinem, Trixie Mattel, Roxane Gay, Jenna Lyons, Drew Afualo, Ilana Glazer, Nikki Glaser, Mara Brock Akil, Laurie Simmons, and Aja Naomi King are also included as signees. (See the full list of signees here.) 'Every day, Planned Parenthood health center staff open the doors of health centers to ensure patients — no matter who they are — can get access to the essential health care they need. Planned Parenthood health centers play an irreplaceable role in our health system,' said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a press statement. 'I applaud these cultural changemakers and everyone across the country who have said, loud and clear: I'm for Planned Parenthood.' The advertisement includes how one in four people in the U.S. have visited Planned Parenthood centers for cancer screenings, STI testing, abortion, gender-affirming care, and other needs. 'I'm incredibly grateful to see so many bold, influential voices declare their support for Planned Parenthood. Having spoken to many of them, I know this is personal,' Caren Spruch, national director for Arts and Entertainment Strategy, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, added. 'One in four people in this country have been to Planned Parenthood for essential health care — including many of these changemakers, their friends, families, and their fans, who have publicly shared their Planned Parenthood stories.' The advertisement comes as President Trump has targeted reproductive rights, including via an executive order that aimed to prohibit federal funding for elective abortions when he took office, and restricting Title X funds from going to Planned Parenthood affiliates during his first time as president. More from Rolling Stone 'The Last of Us' Episode 6: The Way We Were 'The Last of Us': Joel's Return and Other Secrets Behind the Making of Episode 6 The Pop Queens Are the New Rock Gods Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Opinion - Congress must defund Planned Parenthood
I am a mother of three, including my son Cole, who was born with Down syndrome. I am also a former congresswoman who served Eastern Washington for 20 years. In these capacities, I have lived the profound joy and responsibility of nurturing life. When Cole was born, doctors told me his condition might limit him, but his boundless spirit has taught me that every life is a gift brimming with potential. This conviction, rooted in faith and family, drove my work in Congress. It also fuels my call today for Congress to defund Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider and the second-largest distributor of transition-inducing cross-sex hormones to children. Taxpayer dollars should not bankroll an organization that ends lives and pushes harmful, irreversible treatments on vulnerable children who are too young to consent. This is even more true at a time when our nation is grappling with a $36 trillion debt. Planned Parenthood, shaped by its founder Margaret Sanger's eugenics-driven vision, has long masked its true aims. Sanger, who in 1923 called the poor, disabled, and people of color 'human weeds,' sought to eliminate those she deemed inferior. Today, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Global hide behind the pretext of caring for poor women, but their actions tell a different story. They falsely claim that unless their organization receives Medicaid dollars, women will lose medical care. They also perpetuate the myth that abortion comprises only 3 percent of their services. In truth, abortion dominates their business model. According to their 2021-2022 annual report, Planned Parenthood for America performed 374,155 abortions — over 1,000 daily —making it the nation's leading abortion provider. Since 1973, Planned Parenthood has ended more than 8 million lives in this manner. This is not healthcare — it is the systematic termination of human potential on an unimaginable scale. The harm extends beyond abortion itself. A 2023 study in BMC Psychiatry found that women post-abortion face a 34 percent higher risk of depression and anxiety, with many enduring long-term distress. A 2023 study in Issues in Law & Medicine documented physical complications like infertility and chronic pain. Planned Parenthood dismisses these harms, leaving women to face the consequences alone. As a mother, I have seen the stark difference between such abandonment and genuine support. My experience with Cole, navigating a world that sometimes undervalues those with disabilities, has shown me the power of choosing life and the need for care that uplifts, not destroys. Equally alarming is Planned Parenthood's role as the second-largest provider of cross-sex hormones for so-called 'gender-affirming care,' according to a 2023 Senate report by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.). With 41 of 49 affiliates offering puberty blockers, estrogen, and testosterone, their 2021-2022 report noted a 1,400 percent spike in 'Other Procedures' — including gender transition services — from 17,791 to 256,550 in a year. These treatments, given to children as young as 12, lack long-term safety data, according to a 2022 Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism study, and can cause irreversible damage such as infertility, stunted growth, depression, blood clots, and cancer. Across Europe, countries such as the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark have sharply restricted these treatments for minors, with the U.K. indefinitely limiting puberty blockers to clinical trials in 2024 due to insufficient evidence of safety, and others allowing hormones only in exceptional cases or research settings. As a mother, I am heartbroken that Planned Parenthood pushes such experimental treatments on vulnerable children, often bypassing parental consent, just as so many nations are pulling back and moving in a better direction. Fiscally, subsidies to Planned Parenthood are indefensible. In 2021-2022, they received $670.4 million in taxpayer funds, siphoned from such programs as Title X, despite the Hyde Amendment's restrictions on funding abortions. These dollars, as I argued in Congress, free up resources for Planned Parenthood to run its abortion and hormone programs. Over the last five years, Planned Parenthood's national office funneled $899 million to affiliates for legal battles and political campaigns, including $40 million in 2024 to back pro-abortion Democrats, according to a 2025 New York Times report. As former chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I fought to ensure that taxpayer funds were spent responsibly, prioritizing families over ideology. Planned Parenthood's $2 billion in annual revenue is proof that it can survive without taxpayer support. Forcing taxpayers to fund an organization that so many find morally bankrupt undermines the values of millions. Defunding Planned Parenthood would merely redirect resources to federally qualified health centers, which serve more than 30 million patients annually with comprehensive care — mammograms, prenatal support and mental health services, among other things — without abortion or experimental treatments, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. These centers embody the kind of care I championed in Congress, as when I voted for the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act and spoke out against bills designed to funnel money to Planned Parenthood. As Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy noted in their November 20, 2024, Wall Street Journal op-ed, the Department of Government Efficiency aims to cut more than $500 billion in unauthorized spending, citing Planned Parenthood's funding as a prime target. Recent Supreme Court rulings such as West Virginia v. EPA (2022) and Loper Bright v. Raimondo (2024), affirm that agencies cannot impose policies without clear congressional approval — a principle that applies to PPFA's bloated funding. Before retiring in December 2024, I stood on the House floor, as I did in 2020 at a pro-life hearing, saying, 'Abortion doesn't bring hope or healing. There is a despair that has come over our country.' My journey with Cole has shown me the beauty of embracing life's challenges instead of erasing them. Defunding Planned Parenthood is about reclaiming moral clarity and fiscal responsibility, investing in care that respects the dignity of every human person — born and unborn. Congress must act now to honor the constitutional promise of life and protect our children from harm. As a mother and former congresswoman, I urge my former colleagues to defund Planned Parenthood and choose hope. Cathy McMorris Rodgers represented Washington's Fifth Congressional District in Congress from 2005 to 2025. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
16-05-2025
- Health
- The Hill
Congress must defund Planned Parenthood
I am a mother of three, including my son Cole, who was born with Down syndrome. I am also a former congresswoman who served Eastern Washington for 20 years. In these capacities, I have lived the profound joy and responsibility of nurturing life. When Cole was born, doctors told me his condition might limit him, but his boundless spirit has taught me that every life is a gift brimming with potential. This conviction, rooted in faith and family, drove my work in Congress. It also fuels my call today for Congress to defund Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider and the second-largest distributor of transition-inducing cross-sex hormones to children. Taxpayer dollars should not bankroll an organization that ends lives and pushes harmful, irreversible treatments on vulnerable children who are too young to consent. This is even more true at a time when our nation is grappling with a $36 trillion debt. Planned Parenthood, shaped by its founder Margaret Sanger's eugenics-driven vision, has long masked its true aims. Sanger, who in 1923 called the poor, disabled, and people of color 'human weeds,' sought to eliminate those she deemed inferior. Today, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Global hide behind the pretext of caring for poor women, but their actions tell a different story. They falsely claim that unless their organization receives Medicaid dollars, women will lose medical care. They also perpetuate the myth that abortion comprises only 3 percent of their services. In truth, abortion dominates their business model. According to their 2021-2022 annual report, Planned Parenthood for America performed 374,155 abortions — over 1,000 daily —making it the nation's leading abortion provider. Since 1973, Planned Parenthood has ended more than 8 million lives in this manner. This is not healthcare — it is the systematic termination of human potential on an unimaginable scale. The harm extends beyond abortion itself. A 2023 study in BMC Psychiatry found that women post-abortion face a 34 percent higher risk of depression and anxiety, with many enduring long-term distress. A 2023 study in Issues in Law & Medicine documented physical complications like infertility and chronic pain. Planned Parenthood dismisses these harms, leaving women to face the consequences alone. As a mother, I have seen the stark difference between such abandonment and genuine support. My experience with Cole, navigating a world that sometimes undervalues those with disabilities, has shown me the power of choosing life and the need for care that uplifts, not destroys. Equally alarming is Planned Parenthood's role as the second-largest provider of cross-sex hormones for so-called 'gender-affirming care,' according to a 2023 Senate report by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.). With 41 of 49 affiliates offering puberty blockers, estrogen, and testosterone, their 2021-2022 report noted a 1,400 percent spike in 'Other Procedures' — including gender transition services — from 17,791 to 256,550 in a year. These treatments, given to children as young as 12, lack long-term safety data, according to a 2022 Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism study, and can cause irreversible damage such as infertility, stunted growth, depression, blood clots, and cancer. Across Europe, countries such as the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark have sharply restricted these treatments for minors, with the U.K. indefinitely limiting puberty blockers to clinical trials in 2024 due to insufficient evidence of safety, and others allowing hormones only in exceptional cases or research settings. As a mother, I am heartbroken that Planned Parenthood pushes such experimental treatments on vulnerable children, often bypassing parental consent, just as so many nations are pulling back and moving in a better direction. Fiscally, subsidies to Planned Parenthood are indefensible. In 2021-2022, they received $670.4 million in taxpayer funds, siphoned from such programs as Title X, despite the Hyde Amendment's restrictions on funding abortions. These dollars, as I argued in Congress, free up resources for Planned Parenthood to run its abortion and hormone programs. Over the last five years, Planned Parenthood's national office funneled $899 million to affiliates for legal battles and political campaigns, including $40 million in 2024 to back pro-abortion Democrats, according to a 2025 New York Times report. As former chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I fought to ensure that taxpayer funds were spent responsibly, prioritizing families over ideology. Planned Parenthood's $2 billion in annual revenue is proof that it can survive without taxpayer support. Forcing taxpayers to fund an organization that so many find morally bankrupt undermines the values of millions. Defunding Planned Parenthood would merely redirect resources to federally qualified health centers, which serve more than 30 million patients annually with comprehensive care — mammograms, prenatal support and mental health services, among other things — without abortion or experimental treatments, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. These centers embody the kind of care I championed in Congress, as when I voted for the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act and spoke out against bills designed to funnel money to Planned Parenthood. As Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy noted in their November 20, 2024, Wall Street Journal op-ed, the Department of Government Efficiency aims to cut more than $500 billion in unauthorized spending, citing Planned Parenthood's funding as a prime target. Recent Supreme Court rulings such as West Virginia v. EPA (2022) and Loper Bright v. Raimondo (2024), affirm that agencies cannot impose policies without clear congressional approval — a principle that applies to PPFA's bloated funding. Before retiring in December 2024, I stood on the House floor, as I did in 2020 at a pro-life hearing, saying, 'Abortion doesn't bring hope or healing. There is a despair that has come over our country.' My journey with Cole has shown me the beauty of embracing life's challenges instead of erasing them. Defunding Planned Parenthood is about reclaiming moral clarity and fiscal responsibility, investing in care that respects the dignity of every human person — born and unborn. Congress must act now to honor the constitutional promise of life and protect our children from harm. As a mother and former congresswoman, I urge my former colleagues to defund Planned Parenthood and choose hope. Cathy McMorris Rodgers represented Washington's Fifth Congressional District in Congress from 2005 to 2025.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Still Has An Anti-Abortion Agenda, It's Just Sneakier Than Before
It's hard to keep track of the damage President Donald Trump has done in his first 100 days in office, from unlawfully deporting migrants andsome U.S. citizens and declaring a war on transgender children to dismantling federal agencies and imposing tariffs that cratered the stock market. But one dark fear has not yet been realized: an aggressive push to effectively outlaw abortion nationwide. There was widespread concern in 2024 — based on the positions of many people in Trump's orbit — that his administration might start enforcing the centuries-old Comstock Act or have the Food and Drug Administration pull approval for abortion drugs. While that hasn't come to pass, the Trump administration has chipped away at choice in less visible ways and done substantial damage to federal reproductive health services. Not too long ago, Trump was an unapologetic anti-abortion advocate who pandered often to his evangelical far-right base. He openly celebrated his role in repealing 50 years of federal abortion protections, telling Fox News that 'it's a beautiful thing to watch' states ban abortion. But once it became clear that abortion bans are inherently unpopular, Trump shied away from his record: softening his rhetoric around reproductive rights, waffling on a national abortion ban and peddling his lie that 'everyone' wanted Roe v. Wade repealed. Since winning the presidential election, Trump has continued this stance of purported moderation. But he still has an anti-abortion agenda — his administration has just gotten better at hiding it. 'The administration wants you to think that they are not paying attention to repro and that abortion is an issue left to the states … but that is completely untrue,' Ianthe Metzger, senior director of advocacy communications at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told HuffPost. In his first week as president, Trump reinstated the 'global gag rule,' a policy that restricts abortion access around the world and hinders sexual and reproductive health access for many rural communities in developing nations. He signed an executive order to enforce the Hyde Amendment, a 50-year-old federal rule that bans the use of government funds for most abortions for people covered by Medicaid. And those were just the policy decisions generally expected of a Republican administration. Others have been more extraordinary — undermining decades of political precedent and quietly targeting abortion as well as basic reproductive health care like birth control and sexually transmitted infection prevention and testing. The administration is also working to 'change the culture' around family and childbirth. But instead of subsidizing child care or mandating paid parental leave, the White House is entertaining pro-natalist policy ideas, a few of which were once usedby the Nazis. One policy idea floated to the White House included awarding the 'National Medal of Motherhood' to any woman who has six or more children. In Nazi Germany, women were awarded a bronze medal for having four children, silver for six and gold for eight children. Days into his presidency, Trump made an unprecedented move when he limited enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act — a federal law created to safeguard abortion clinics, patients and providers. He dismissed a handful of current ongoing investigations and pardoned 23 people for FACE convictions, effectively declaring open season on already vulnerable abortion clinics, patients and workers. He also rejoined the Geneva Consensus, an extreme global anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQIA pact created during the first Trump administration that aligns the U.S. with socially conservative countries, some of which have been accused of rampant human rights violations. Trump, along with billionaire Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency, dismantled the Department of Health and Human Services. These cuts have gutted critical expert teams that monitored in vitro fertilization, tracked national maternal and infant health outcomes, as well as published key contraceptive guidelines for physicians. The cuts also pulled funding from gender-based research, including one study grant meant to protect pregnant women from domestic violence. One Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team laid off in the larger DOGE cuts tracked maternal complications like gestational diabetes and preeclampsia, all of which can have lifelong health consequences for women and their children. The elimination of this team means losing the only source of data about the health and behavior of women before, during and shortly after pregnancy. 'Health will likely get worse, and you may not even know it. We won't see the effects until it's too late,' one former official in the CDC's reproductive health division told HuffPost earlier this month. One of the most alarming moves that will have significant consequences is Trump's decision to cut $65.8 million in family planning grants under Title X, a federal program dedicated to providing family-planning services for free or discounted prices to about 4 million low-income Americans every year. Title X has helped fund around 4,000 health clinics, supplying nearly 3 million low-income Americans in 2023 with reproductive health care including birth control, STI testing and cancer screenings. Despite GOP rhetoric, Title X funding cannot go toward abortions — meaning the Trump administration simply took away general health care for millions of Americans. The news flew under the radar, likely because many people don't understand what Title X is, and there has been a great deal of chaos in Trump's first 100 days. But the funding cut has already significantly hindered operations at health centers across the country, including Planned Parenthood, an organization that is historically one of the largest Title X providers. At least six Planned Parenthood health centers have already shut down due to the Title X cuts the administration announced just last month. 'Abortion really was just the beginning,' said Metzger from Planned Parenthood. 'An attack on Title X is an attack on birth control — that is what that program was funded for … None of these things are safe, they are all interconnected.' Recently, the Trump administration joined a Supreme Court case alongside South Carolina, arguing that states should be allowed to exclude Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs, even for health care services outside of abortion care. Similar to Title X funding cuts, this move would effectively defund Planned Parenthood, a long-held GOP goal. The Trump administration's unusual decision to join the case shows just how far they're willing to go to decimate abortion access as well as birth control, STI testing and other vital reproductive health care. One of the main focuses of Trump's first 100 days in office has been attacking LGBTQIA communities, specifically transgender kids in women's sports. And while some may not realize it, attacks on the trans community and attacks on reproductive justice are inherently linked. Trump's anti-trans executive order contained 'personhood' language, used often by extremist anti-abortion groups that believe life begins at conception and fetuses should have the same legal rights as born children. If fetal personhood ever became law, it would immediately create a total abortion ban and criminalize IVF, stem cell research and even some forms of birth control. Trump has also lined his cabinet with abortion opponents, creating one of the most extreme anti-choice administrations in history. Attorney General Pam Bondiinstructed the Department of Justice to dismiss a high-profile federal lawsuit over the right to emergency abortion care in Idaho — sending a clear message that the administration would rather pregnant women continue dying than offer safe abortion and miscarriage care. The federal law at the center of the suit, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, requires hospitals that participate in Medicare (the majority of hospitals in the country) to offer abortion care if it's necessary to stabilize the health of a pregnant patient while they're experiencing a medical emergency. The person in Trump's administration in charge of enforcing that law is Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former TV personality who is openlyanti-abortion and believes abortion decisions should be between 'a woman, her doctors and her local political leaders.' Now that the lawsuit is dismissed, the Trump administration has the ability to rewrite federal EMTALA guidance, which would follow the far-right Project 2025 playbook perfectly. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is responsible for gutting several HHS agencies as well as cutting Title X funding. Trump tasked him with studying the safety of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortion, despite over two decades of safe and effective use by millions of Americans. Many of the HHS agencies Kennedy decimated were also the ones that would have studied mifepristone. Kennedy himself could pull FDA approval of mifepristone, or FDA Commissioner Martin Makary could. The former Fox News contributor routinely spread anti-abortion misinformation before Trump made him head of the FDA. During Makary's confirmation hearing, he refused to answer questions about his plans for mifepristone. Legal challenges to reproductive freedom are sure to continue as the abortion opposition has only been emboldened since Trump took office. This means there will be more Supreme Court battles over abortion care — a frightening fact given the high court's conservative majority and that John Sauer, well-known for his dogged opposition to abortion and birth control access, was recently confirmed as solicitor general, a position sometimes referred to as the 'tenth justice.' 'President Trump has spent these first 100 days making it more dangerous to be pregnant in the United States, stacking every wing of his administration with anti-abortion extremists ready and willing to do his bidding,' Shannon Russell, federal policy counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told reporters in a Monday press call. 'Individually, these officials have great power,' Russell said. 'Together, they'll do long-lasting damage to our democracy and threaten people's reproductive freedoms.' 'We're Sitting Ducks': Abortion Providers Brace For Violence After Trump Limits Clinic Protections The Trump Administration Has Launched A War On Kids Trump Is Filling His White House With Men Accused Of Sexual Misconduct
