by Julie Rovner, for KFF Well being Information
Abortion foes apprehensive earlier than his election that President Donald Trump had moved on, now that Roe v. Wade is overturned and abortion coverage, as he stated on the marketing campaign path, “has been returned to the states.”
Their considerations mounted after Trump named Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime supporter of abortion rights, to steer the Division of Well being and Human Companies — after which as he signed a slew of Day 1 government orders that stated nothing about abortion.
Because it seems, they’d nothing to fret about. In its first two weeks, the Trump administration went additional to limit abortion than any president for the reason that unique Roe resolution in 1973.
Hours after Trump and Vice President JD Vance spoke to abortion opponents gathered in Washington for the annual March for Life, the president issued a memorandum reinstating what’s often called the Mexico Metropolis Coverage, which bars funding to worldwide assist organizations that “perform or actively promote” abortion — an motion taken by each trendy Republican president.
However Trump additionally did one thing new, signing an government order ending “the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion” in home packages — successfully ordering authorities companies to halt funding to packages that may be construed to “promote” abortion, corresponding to household planning counseling.
Dorothy Fink, then performing secretary of Well being and Human Companies, adopted up with a memo ordering the division to “reevaluate all programs, regulations, and guidance to ensure Federal taxpayer dollars are not being used to pay for or promote elective abortion, consistent with the Hyde Amendment.”
The emphasis on the phrase “promote” is mine, as a result of that’s not what the Hyde Modification says. It’s true that the modification — which has been included in each HHS spending invoice for the reason that Nineteen Seventies — prohibits using federal {dollars} to pay for abortions besides in instances of rape or incest or to avoid wasting the mom’s life.
But it surely bars solely cost. Because the present HHS appropriation says, not one of the funding “shall be expended for health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion.”
Actually, for many years, the Hyde Modification existed facet by facet with a requirement within the federal household planning program, Title X, that sufferers with unintended pregnancies be given “nondirective” counseling about all their choices, together with abortion. Former President Joe Biden reinstated that requirement in 2021 after Trump eradicated it throughout his first time period.
So, what’s the upshot of Trump’s order?
For one factor, it instantly overturned two of Biden’s government orders. One was meant to strengthen medical privateness protections for individuals searching for abortion care and implement a 1994 legislation criminalizing harassment of individuals making an attempt to enter clinics that present abortions. The opposite sought to make sure ladies with being pregnant problems have entry to emergency abortions in hospitals that settle for Medicare even in states with abortion bans. The latter coverage is making its manner by means of federal court docket.
Trump’s order can be main authorities companies to reverse different key Biden administration insurance policies applied after the autumn of Roe v. Wade. They embody a 2022 Division of Protection coverage explicitly permitting service members and their dependents to journey out of states with abortion bans to entry the process and offering journey allowances for these journeys. (The Pentagon formally adopted by means of on that change on Jan. 30, only a few days after Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth took over the job: Service members are not allowed go away or journey allowances for such journeys.) The order can be prone to reverse a coverage permitting the Division of Veterans Affairs to offer abortions in some instances, in addition to to offer abortion counseling.
But it surely might even have extra wide-ranging results.
“This executive order could affect other major policies related to access to reproductive health care,” former Biden administration official Katie Keith wrote within the coverage journal Well being Affairs. These embody protections for treatment abortion, emergency medical care for girls experiencing being pregnant problems, and even in vitro fertilization.
“These and similar changes would, if and when adopted, make it even more challenging for women and their families to access reproductive health care, especially in the more than 20 states with abortion bans,” she wrote.
Anti-abortion teams praised the brand new administration — not only for the manager orders, but additionally for pardoning activists convicted of violating a legislation that protects bodily entry to abortion clinics.
“One after another, President Trump’s great pro-life victories are being restored and this is just the beginning,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Professional-Life America, stated in a press release.
Abortion rights teams, in the meantime, weren’t stunned by the actions and even their timing, stated Clare Coleman, president and CEO of the Nationwide Household Planning & Reproductive Well being Affiliation. The affiliation represents grantees of Title X, which has been a longtime goal of abortion opponents.
“We said we didn’t think it would be a Day 1 thing,” Coleman stated in an interview. “But we said they were coming for us, and they are.”
HealthBent, a daily characteristic of KFF Well being Information, presents perception into and evaluation of insurance policies and politics from KFF Well being Information chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner, who has lined well being take care of greater than 30 years.
KFF Well being Information is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is likely one of the core working packages at KFF—an unbiased supply of well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism. Study extra about KFF.
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This article first appeared on KFF Well being Information and is republished right here below a Inventive Commons license.
