From Salon · Emma Cieslik · · 3m
Melania Trump signs executive order reversing women's health progress
First lady Melania Trump co-signed Trump's executive order that cuts women's healthcare funding while advancing pronatalist policies.
In brief
First lady Melania Trump co-signed Trump's executive order that cuts women's healthcare funding while advancing pronatalist policies. Trump's executive order establishes a women's health task force but reverses previous progress by cutting funding and prioritizing fertility over reproductive rights. Originally…
First lady Melania Trump co-signs executive order
First lady Melania Trump co-signed president donald trump's executive order establishing the women's health division at the national institutes of health and a white house women's health task force.
Order aims to fund women's health research
The order claims to support policy reforms ensuring women's research is well-funded and access to stage-specific prevention, diagnoses, treatment, and care.
Order reverses previous women's health progress
The order reverses an order signed by joe biden pushing for women's research while advancing trump's administration's fertility-focused pronatalist agenda.
Melania Trump signs symbolic executive order
Melania trump signed the executive order as a purely symbolic act, a first in 2025 that expanded foster care resources.
First lady calls event 'transformative moment'
At the signing ceremony, the first lady called the event 'a transformative moment for women in america. beginning today, we will change the reality of women's health'.
Task force promises policy reforms
The white house women's task force promises to create a federal government that recognizes and rectifies medical conditions affecting women throughout their lives.
Women face medical gaslighting
Many women have faced systematic gaslighting from doctors claiming their physical symptoms are solely psychological.
Women's research historically underfunded
Medical conditions that solely or disproportionately affect women have been denied funding or excluded from clinical trials for decades.
Women experience higher medication reactions
Women experience adverse reactions to medications about twice as often as men because girls and women are not included in clinical studies.
Trump cuts women's healthcare funding
During his second administration, trump cut medicare and shut down data-collection contracts for the women's health initiative study.
Trump cancels teen pregnancy grants
Trump cancelled millions of dollars in grants under the teen pregnancy prevention program affecting thousands of clinics and organizations.
Task force includes pro-cut officials
The task force includes white house chief of staff susie wiles, hhs secretary robert f. kennedy jr., and defense secretary pete hegseth.
Pentagon tracks women's menstrual cycles
The pentagon requires women service members 35 and older to undergo testing for perimenopause or menopause symptoms.
Trump's order undermines reproductive rights
The order makes no mention of protecting access to abortion or contraception despite claims of advancing women's health.
The headline
Trump's executive order establishes a women's health task force but reverses previous progress by cutting funding and prioritizing fertility over reproductive rights.
