The scariest part of a second Donald Trump presidency is this time, he has experience and knows exactly what he is doing. After being sworn in on Monday, he immediately got to work to make this country a darker place for working class people, women, immigrants, and those in underrepresented communities.
One sneaky way he appears to have accomplished this was to quietly take down a reproductive rights government website. The site was created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2022 as an information hub for women’s health. Users on the social media platform X were quick to notice the website’s disappearance with some calling its absence “vile.”
While it is not known exactly when the site was taken offline, it was active on Jan. 15, according to CBS News, and no longer available on Trump’s first day in office. Neither Trump nor Vance have commented on the move at this time. Before the website was taken down it played an important role in informing patients on their rights in a post-Roe landscape.
“Reproductive health care, including access to birth control and safe and legal abortion care, is an essential part of your health and well-being,” the site affirmed. “While Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion remains legal in many states, and other reproductive health care services remain protected by law.” It also made crystal clear that most health insurance plans are required to cover prescription birth control thanks to the Affordable Care Act. While Abortion law now varies by state, medication abortion remains FDA approved despite a Supreme Court challenge.
The website didn’t stop at reproductive care; it also had a wide range of information on various other healthcare services. It laid out guidelines for breast and cervical cancer screenings, it touched on prenatal care for those who choose to become parents, and it offered information on HIV screenings.
Like many important issues, Trump has wavered on abortion over the years, choosing whatever stance serves him best at the moment. During a 1999 Meet the Press interview he proclaimed himself “very pro-choice.” Flash forward to a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2011, he not only declared himself “pro-life,” but also came out against gun control and openly flirted with the idea of running for office for the first time. He would continue down this ideological path in order to win the 2016 election.
During Trump’s first term he took credit for overturning Roe v. Wade, citing his role in appointing Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. “After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone,” he bragged on Truth Social.
During Trump’s second presidential campaign, it became apparent that the majority of the country wanted at least some form of abortion to remain legal. Again Trump changed his position for political advantage. He now called it a state issue, asserting that the federal government had no place regulating it. He claimed to be a protector of women to woo their vote.
“Like Ronald Reagan, I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother,” he stated at a campaign event in October of 2024. “Some don’t agree.”
On day one, this self-proclaimed protector took down a website designed to inform, again proving he is only looking out for his own political interests. But what do you expect from a man a civil jury found liable for sexual abuse?
Published: Jan 21, 2025 05:08 pm