“A relentless and holistic campaign against women’s autonomy and health”
Writing on Women’s healthcare and Healthcare in general has been my bailiwick in the past. With the death of Dan and losing some of Angry Bear’s writers as they aged out or just moved on left me with no choice but to expand my vision. It appears our president has a vision also and that is minimize healthcare overall and in particular for women. Gotta have those funds for tax breaks.
Trump’s War on Women’s Health
Trump has overseen a relentless and holistic campaign against women’s autonomy and health. His anti-woman fixation fits nicely into the MAGA agenda, harkening back to the 1950s and ’60s when women had few rights and fewer opportunities. They couldn’t own property or serve on a jury. Access to education and most professions beyond teacher or nurse was restricted. Oral contraception was just becoming available, but only married women could get it. And unlike today, few women were doctors.
Standing Up for Women
Today many of those doctors are taking action. The largest organization of women’s health providers, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), has announced it will no longer accept federal funding. It is the only American medical organization to reject federal dollars, so far.
ACOG said in a statement that “Recent changes in federal funding laws and regulations significantly impact ACOG’s program goals, policy positions, and ability to provide timely and evidence-based guidance and recommendations for care.”
Those “recent changes” include the slashing of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives that by definition comprise most of the work provided by ACOG doctors, since the Trump administration considers any programs that assist only women to be DEI. In other words, efforts aimed not at the general public but rather for a specific demographic group are now labeled DEI and forbidden.
ACOG pointed to several changes instituted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that hurt women and run counter to years of scientific research. For example, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rescinded the recommendation that pregnant women receive the Covid-19 vaccine but provided no science-based evidence for the policy change. And the FDA has recently expressed skepticism about antidepressant use during pregnancy, despite significant medical evidence that such treatments are safe.
Women’s Health Care in Trump’s Crosshairs
Trump’s disdain for women is not only towards American women. He has pulled out of the World Health Organization (WHO), which “works worldwide to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable,” according to its website. The WHO’s programs support maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health, as well as menopause.
Trump has terminated the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which provided lifesaving medicine and contraception and focused on maternal and infant mortality. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently announced that the administration plans to destroy $9 million worth of contraception sitting in a warehouse in Belgium because they have no way to distribute it since USAID’s dismantling.
At home, Trump has drastically cut federal health programs, putting women’s health at greater risk. He gutted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including slashing public health programs and firing a majority of employees in the reproductive health division. HHS’s budget has been cut by 26%, which includes cuts to women’s pregnancy research and cancer screenings.
Trump’s (very ugly) tax and spending act will accelerate the women’s health crisis in the United States. The cuts to Medicaid disproportionately affect women and their children, as does the slashing of funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which replaced food stamps. Twenty-two million people stand to lose benefits — that’s more than half of all recipients. Those who manage to stay on the program will get less.
The bill defunds Planned Parenthood, which is far more than an abortion provider. In fact, abortions account for just 3% of Planned Parenthood’s services. The bulk of care offered includes cancer screenings, prenatal care, contraception, and testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
The loss of federal funding could cause clinics to close, with those in medically underserved communities at the highest risk. An estimated 1.1 million women could lose access to affordable care.
Foundation Funding
As the Trump administration wages war on women’s health, the Gates Foundation on Monday announced a $2.5 billion, five-year global initiative to improve women’s health. It is the largest grant ever for women’s health.
The funds will be spent on efforts to eliminate preventable deaths for mothers and babies. The foundation estimates it will be able to positively affect health outcomes for tens of millions of women worldwide, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.
“Women’s health continues to be ignored, underfunded, and sidelined. Too many women still die from preventable causes or live in poor health. That must change,” Bill Gates said.
A Disturbing Trend
American women’s health care was at a crisis point even before the Trump administration stomped in and imposed its regressive policies.
Historically, women’s health care is severely underfunded and under-researched. While women live an average of 4.5 years longer than men, they spend 25% more time in ill health, according to a study by the World Economic Forum and McKinsey. The study points to a disparity in the effectiveness of treatment for women versus men.
While spending on U.S. health care has more than doubled in 20 years, the share allocated to women’s health specifically has declined. The 2005 National Institutes of Health budget allocated 13.5% for research related to women’s health. In 2025 that declined to just over 10%. Overall, only 1% of health care research money is spent on female-specific conditions beyond oncology, according to a 2021 analysis by McKinsey.
The U.S. maternal mortality rate is the highest among high-income countries. American mothers are 10 times more likely to die due to pregnancy-related complications than mothers in Australia, Israel, Japan, or Spain, according to the CDC.
Women make up 41% of clinical trial participants. For heart disease trials, only 33% are women, according to NIH. Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women, killing more women than all cancers combined.
Of the 37 drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2022, just two were for female-specific illnesses or conditions, according to Deloitte. Low approvals for drugs for women’s health issues are not an outlier but a trend.
Trump may think he is winning the battle against women, but the 2026 midterms offer an opportunity to let him know that most Americans in general, and women in particular, won’t allow this assault on their health care without a fight.
“Trump’s War on Women’s Health,” Steady by Rather