The bilateral rollback on both reproductive freedoms and DEI protections will have a detrimental effect on women’s health.
Despite the Trump administration’s backtrack on the gutting of the Women’s Health Initiative from the National Institute of Health, this presidency remains committed to efforts to hinder advancements in both research and quality of treatment.
As federal agencies are instructed to deny grants that include the words “women,” “trans,” and “diversity,” women’s health research has already been negatively impacted by regressive standards.
In the first quarter of 2025, conservatives across 17 states made their own respective attacks against HIPAA protections for the purpose of invading reproductive privacy. This came in tandem with Trump’s most recent attack on abortion rights as the administration has withheld tens of millions of dollars in funding from Planned Parenthood. And while the cutback of both protections ensuring privacy and sexual health funding across the nation threatens women vulnerable to serious health issues during pregnancy, the crackdown on DEI efforts – like those prioritizing Black women’s health issues – could lead to greater health disparities.
Back in January of 2025, the White House released its statement coinciding with their executive order cracking down on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts. In this statement, the Trump administration laid out a detailed plan to dismantle diversity in the workplace, via massive layoffs of diversity workers and termination of entire programs to further restrict what was described as illegal and immoral.
“The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military,“ the White House’s press release stated. “This was a concerted effort stemming from President Biden’s first day in office, when he issued Executive Order 13985, ‘Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.’”
Prior to the onslaught of executive orders introduced from the Trump administration, Black women within Texas were already facing crippling healthcare disparities. Over 60% of Black women receive Medicaid coverage, which is currently on the chopping block. As of 2021, 53% of AIDs related deaths were Black women. Black women are also twice as likely to experience critical health issues. Executive orders rolling back the few steps towards improvements in Black women’s health.
The Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI) specifically points to Executive Order 14070, which gave the option to extend postpartum Medicaid care, which is especially valuable for Black women who are more likely to die after giving birth and experience postpartum depression at higher rates. It could be argued that the removal of DEI offices is not inherently the removal of oversight. But, as the BWHI states, pushing against more specialized care can lead to no real accountability.
“Without dedicated DEI offices, addressing healthcare disparities becomes “everyone’s job,” but no one’s priority,” the BWHI states.
These changes will result in higher out of pocket costs for medications, higher financial strain and less access to preventative care. All of which lead to even higher death rates amongst Black women. International nonprofit Fight Cancer Foundation states that when insurance costs rise, it leads to delayed diagnostic tests and, in turn, late cancer diagnoses. Removing the out of pocket costs for follow up tests can, according to Fight Cancer, prevent 7,500 late stage diagnoses.
“These additional expenses can lead to delayed or even skipped medically necessary procedures resulting in potentially life-threatening consequences,” Lisa LaCasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network stated. “Removing cost sharing for each intervention in the screening process is a critical step toward ending cancer as we know it, for everyone.”
Other patient advocacy groups for Black women include Black Maternal Health Caucus, National Black Nurses Association, and Black Mamas Matter Alliance. Meanwhile, abortion advocacy groups like Texas Equal Access (TEA) Fund, Avow Texas, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) provide a network of support for women in Texas facing unwanted or unsafe pregnancy.
Women’s health research has been long identified as a severely underfunded and underrepresented in medical studies. Only 5% of global research and development funding is allocated for the purpose, split between 4% for women’s cancers and 1% for all other women-specific health conditions. Of that 1%, .25% is devoted to research on fertility. And although fertility is a critical aspect of women’s healthcare, emphasis on it leaves broader issues that disproportionately affect women unexplored.
For example, women are more susceptible to mental illness, autoimmune disorders, gut health issues, and other ailments that have seen varying levels of observation and research. That is, when women are actually diagnosed and treated accordingly. And while men’s life expectancy is lower than women, this is in spite of a huge disparity favoring men’s health research.
As conservatives worsen this disparity – whether attacks on funding are based around the deconstruction of factors that provide basis for reparative justice or historical bias – progression in women’s health is set back by decades. Under Trump, women’s health is liable to regress even further.
