No, Trump hasn't banned abortion yet. But he's ended health research for trans people

There was widespread concern in 2024 — based on the positions of many people in Trump’s orbit — that his administration might start enforcing the centuries-old Comstock Act or have the Food and Drug Administration pull approval for abortion drugs.

Didn't happen, but, as Alanna Vagianos tells us:

"In his first week as president, Trump reinstated the 'global gag rule'...[and] signed an executive order to enforce the Hyde Amendment...

And those were just the policy decisions generally expected of a Republican administration. Others have been more extraordinary — undermining decades of political precedent and quietly targeting abortion as well as basic reproductive health care like birth control and sexually transmitted infection prevention and testing."

Vagianos has put together this incredible list for HuffPost today: "Trump Still Has An Anti-Abortion Agenda, It’s Just Sneakier Than Before."

These policy decisions of Trump's first 100 days include (the numbering is mine):

1. "...entertaining pro-natalist policy ideas...[like] awarding the 'National Medal of Motherhood' to any woman who has six or more children. In Nazi Germany, women were awarded a bronze medal for having four children, silver for six and gold for eight children."
2. "he limited enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act — a federal law created to safeguard abortion clinics, patients and providers. He dismissed a handful of current ongoing investigations and pardoned 23 people for FACE convictions, effectively declaring open season on already vulnerable abortion clinics, patients and workers."
3. "He also rejoined the Geneva Consensus, an extreme global anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQIA pact created during the first Trump administration that aligns the U.S. with socially conservative countries, some of which have been accused of rampant human rights violations."
4. DOGE "dismantled the Department of Health and Human Services," disrupting or ending work by those who "monitored in vitro fertilization, tracked national maternal and infant health outcomes, as well as published key contraceptive guidelines for physicians," or "tracked maternal complications like gestational diabetes and preeclampsia," thus "losing the only source of data about the health and behavior of women before, during and shortly after pregnancy." Funding was pulled from "gender-based research, including one study grant meant to protect pregnant women from domestic violence."
5. He "cut $65.8 million in family planning grants under Title X," which had "helped fund around 4,000 health clinics, supplying nearly 3 million low-income Americans in 2023 with reproductive health care including birth control, STI testing and cancer screenings" — never abortions (by law). Some Planned Parenthood clinics closed due to the loss of funding.
6. The government "joined a Supreme Court case alongside South Carolina, arguing that states should be allowed to exclude Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs, even for health care services outside of abortion care." This would "effectively defund Planned Parenthood."
7. "...attacks on the trans community and attacks on reproductive justice are inherently linked. Trump’s [first] anti-trans executive order ["Defending Women"] contained 'personhood' language, used often by extremist anti-abortion groups that believe life begins at conception and fetuses should have the same legal rights as born children..."
8. "Trump has also lined his cabinet with abortion opponents, creating one of the most extreme anti-choice administrations in history."
9. "Attorney General Pam Bondi instructed the Department of Justice to dismiss a high-profile federal lawsuit over the right to emergency abortion care in Idaho — sending a clear message that the administration would rather pregnant women continue dying than offer safe abortion and miscarriage care...The person in Trump’s administration in charge of enforcing that law is Dr. Mehmet Oz, a former TV personality who is openly anti-abortion...Now that the lawsuit is dismissed, the Trump administration has the ability to rewrite federal EMTALA guidance, which would follow the far-right Project 2025 playbook perfectly."
10. "Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is responsible for gutting several HHS agencies as well as cutting Title X funding. Trump tasked him with studying the safety of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortion...Many of the HHS agencies Kennedy decimated were also the ones that would have studied mifepristone. Kennedy himself could pull FDA approval of mifepristone, or FDA Commissioner Martin Makary could. The former Fox News contributor routinely spread anti-abortion misinformation before Trump made him head of the FDA. During Makary’s confirmation hearing, he refused to answer questions about his plans for mifepristone."
11. "John Sauer, well-known for his dogged opposition to abortion and birth control access, was recently confirmed as solicitor general, a position sometimes referred to as the 'tenth justice' [i.e., in addition to the nine on the Supreme Court]."

How Trump's HHS Cuts Are Another Attack On Trans People: Research on HIV prevention among trans people was already scarce, but Trump's restructuring of the health agency decimates future studies. Lil Kalish, HuffPost, Apr 29, 2025

Update: Republicans Move A Step Closer To Repealing Protections For Abortion Clinics: A bill to repeal a 30-year-old federal law that safeguards reproductive health clinics passed out of committee on Tuesday and now heads to the full House for consideration. Alanna Vagianos, HuffPost, June 11, 2025

Regarding FACE: Publishing Doctors’ Names is a Threat The Nuremberg Files was 1990s anti-abortion doxxing. Tucker Lieberman, Medium, Dec 2, 2021

HIV funding

Also today in the HuffPost, Lil Kalish writes:

"The Trump administration’s cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services make the dream of ending the HIV epidemic more unattainable than it has been in years, and public health experts warn it also marks an escalation of the president’s attacks on trans people."

"Medicaid is the largest insurer of people living with HIV, and roughly 276,000 trans people access health care through that system.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed a rule last month that would make it more difficult for low-income people to get insurance from plans covered by the Affordable Care Act — and proposed that gender-affirming care would no longer be covered as an essential health benefit, a move that could drive up medical costs for hundreds of thousands of trans Americans."

* * *

Some of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS programs, which provide direct support for people living with HIV, are completely eliminated in the draft HHS budget for next year.

* * *

'It means that free testing events, or opportunities to get PrEP ... all those different tools that we have are going to be minimized and eliminated depending on where you are in the country and what levels of access and transportation needs you have,' said Tori Cooper, director of strategic outreach and training at Human Rights Campaign."

And:

"Research on the specific challenges to HIV prevention among trans women, trans men and gender nonconforming people has only started in the last five years...and his administration has wiped dozens of web pages, studies and data sets that make any mention of gender.

... Nearly 29% of terminated grants involved research into HIV and AIDS, according to an unofficial database kept by academics tracking the cuts.

A new study from the University of Michigan shed light on the effectiveness of trans-inclusive HIV research. It found that when trans people had access to gender-affirming hormone therapy in the form of primary care, they had a 37% lower chance of getting HIV and a 44% lower chance of having the virus detectable in blood samples."

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October 4, 2025 screenshot of CNN:

GOP Accused of Trying to Slip Backdoor Abortion Ban Into Government Funding Bill: “Trump said he’d leave abortion care up to the states. Well, this latest scheme makes it crystal clear: A de facto nationwide abortion ban has been his plan all along,” said Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden. Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, Nov 9, 2025

Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world. A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors. Investigation by Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne; illustration by Laurie Avon. The Guardian. Nov 22, 2025.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary has suggested that updated COVID booster shots (2025–2026 formula) may not be approved and that the boosters are unnecessary for most people.

Robert F Kennedy Jr is currently receiving gender-affirming care. Yes, really www.thepinknews.com/... #transgender #trans #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA

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— Transgender World (@transgenderreport.com) November 28, 2025 at 6:59 AM

The United States was the gold standard for science and technology for decades, and there was never any reason that had to end.

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— Tom Marcinko (@tommarcinko.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 12:05 AM

I again wish to point out that it is utterly catastrophic that RFK Jr. has unilaterally ended CDC recommendations for many childhood vaccines. It’s a betrayal of science, ethics, compassion, and the people of the United States. And it was also a specific goal of Project 2025 (page 254).

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— Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD (@elizabethjacobs.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 2:40 PM

Lurie Children’s Rolls Back Trans Youth Care Lurie was one of six hospitals targeted by the HHS last week over the provision of legal and medically necessary care for trans patients. s. baum, Erin in the Morning, Jan 21, 2026

California AG Bonta Files Groundbreaking Lawsuit Against Rady Children’s Hospital for Dropping Trans Youth GAC “If my child had a different diagnosis, they would likely have a surgery date tomorrow. But because of who my child is, the door was closed.” s. baum, Erin in the Morning, Feb 04, 2026

Children’s hospital will continue gender-affirming care after “thorny” court ruling The court said the hospital must keep providing the care until March 10, but the care could continue well past then. Daniel Villarreal (he/him), LGBTQ Nation, February 12, 2026

Harvard University sues the White House

Politico explains:

"In a 51-page filing, Harvard’s lawyers argue that the funding freeze violates the First Amendment by amounting to government interference “with private actors’ speech” in order “to advance its own vision of ideological balance.” The suit further claims the Trump administration “has not — and cannot — identify any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen.” The judge assigned the case is an appointee of Barack Obama, per POLITICO’s legal ace Josh Gerstein. More from The Harvard Crimson’s Dhruv Patel and Grace Yoon."

Harvard President Says University Had No 'Choice' But To Sue The Trump Administration: Donald Trump on Thursday called the elite school a "threat to Democracy." Marita Vlachou, HuffPost, Apr 24, 2025

"Websites for Harvard College centers serving minority and LGBTQ students and women vanished Wednesday, The Harvard Crimson reported, marking the continued unraveling of diversity initiatives at the nation’s most prestigious university as it faces fresh pressure from the Trump administration.

Websites for the Harvard College Women’s Center, the Office for BGLTQ Student Life and the Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations now redirect to a page for an Office of Culture and Community, the student newspaper reported."

— Dakin Andone, "Websites serving Harvard undergrad women, minority and LGBTQ students taken down, Crimson reports," CNN, July 10, 2025

Trump administration still in active talks with Harvard on $500 million deal, McMahon says, From CNN's Betsy Klein, Nov 19, 2025

Trump administration sues Harvard, alleging school didn’t protect Jewish students as settlement talks go nowhere, CNN, March 19, 2026

The UK Supreme court April 16, 2025 ruling will make everything worse for trans people

Trans people in the UK are in real trouble.

“I think this will be the kicking-off point for a very enhanced push for overt restrictions on the rights of trans people,” said Victoria McCloud, who changed her legal sex more than two decades ago.

The UK’s first trans judge, she applied to intervene in the supreme court appeal but was refused. Last year she quit her job as a judge, saying her position had become “untenable” because her trans identity was viewed as a “lifestyle choice or an ideology”. She now lives in the Republic of Ireland.

McCloud said the supreme court ruling came in the midst of “a scary time” for trans people in the UK and would mark the start of a more intense fight for rights. “The rest has been phoney war. The real issues now start,” she said.

“If I was a trans person in the UK today, I would steer clear of using any loo in a public space unless it was a combined-sex loo, because I personally cannot, as of this moment, judge whether I should use the male loo or the female loo,” she said.

“I haven’t got my head around the complexities of the judgment and its repercussions will be ongoing for some time. But I’m happy I live in the Republic of Ireland, where this problem is not an issue. They know where I’m allowed to pee here.”

— Jessica Murray, ‘A huge reset’: gender-critical activists and trans rights campaigners react to supreme court ruling, The Guardian, April 16, 2025

See also:

"...they assert that no trans people will be disadvantaged by this ruling. Funny that. For, the torrent of tears in my online feed yesterday, and the long line of trans folk turning up to declare themselves in despair, in pieces, and otherwise broken by this, suggests an entire community would beg to differ."
— 'Trans People Woke Up To A Bleak New World Today. How Did We Get Here?': Campaigner jane fae examines the Supreme Court's landmark decision on how to define a woman for HuffPost UK. By TransActual director and chair of Trans Media Watch, jane fae. April 17, 2025.

Where will organized anti-trans go next?

"Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman, a prominent supporter of trans rights ... said: "The response by For Women Scotland and other associated groups was very, very clear - they are taking this as a victory and that is potentially dangerous about where they go next."
— "We've already heard people say they want to repeal the gender recognition act 2004, and trans people are worried that people are coming after their right to exist.": Supreme Court ruling has dire consequences for trans people, campaigners warn. Paul O'Hare and Jonathan Geddes, BBC Scotland News, April 17, 2025

For more on the ruling, see: So Sorry About Our Coach and Horses: The UK Observer says “neigh” to trans rights, as we came too close to driving and smashing right through equalities law (9-min read), on Medium

"What Groups Were Behind The 16th April Gender Identity/Sexual Orientation Court Hearing?" Alice Snow, Medium, April 22

Shevchenko: 'Oh bury me, then rise ye up'

"A St Petersburg court has sentenced a 19-year-old woman to nearly three years in a penal colony after she was accused of repeatedly 'discrediting' the Russian army, including by gluing a quotation on a statue of a Ukrainian poet. ... Kozyreva was arrested on February 24, 2024, after she glued a verse by Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko onto his monument in St Petersburg... The verse from Shevchenko’s My Testament read, 'Oh bury me, then rise ye up / And break your heavy chains / And water with the tyrants’ blood / The freedom you have gained'..."

— Russia sentences 19-year-old woman to nearly three years in a penal colony after poetic anti-war protest, Mariya Knight and Caitlin Danaher, CNN, April 18, 2025

ICE does not care about birth certificates

Since 2008, Donald Trump has insisted that Barack Obama's birth certificate was fake.

That sort of racist nonsense has led us here today.

Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez was born in Georgia, yet he's been arrested and detained by ICE.

Read the story on HuffPost

'Free fall' in the 'whirlwind': Where we are now

"During the most unprecedented, illegal, and unconstitutional first three months in office, this regime has managed to tear down not only storied institutions and long-standing safeguards but our entire collective confidence in our government.

We are in the unknown, floating between disbelief and horror, fear and anger, unsure where to place our next dollar, what to tell our children, and how we’re supposed to proceed.

We are in total free fall."

— Melissa Corrigan, If Your Skin Is White, This Is Your Fight.: We're over the cliff. What now? Counterstory Media, Apr 16, 2025

Brian Klaas says: "Like it or not, the whirlwind is back. My unsolicited advice is this: make a deliberate plan to escape its vortex so you have the energy to push back more effectively. And remember, above all, that digital engagement matters only if it provokes real-world action."

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"The first one hundred days of this bullshit has gone exactly how this regime wanted it to. Steve Bannon calls it “flooding the zone”. Political communication expert Dannagal Young calls it a “tidal wave”. A symposium of journalists call it “weaponizing chaos and overwhelming media”."
— Who I Am, And Who I'm Not: Adjusting to this "new normal", and redefining who I can be in it. Melissa Corrigan, May 6, 2025

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We are speechless (Naomi Klein, Doppelganger) before the wreck (Jia Tolentino, Trick Mirror).

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"In a dumpster-fire world, I choose over and over again to act treasonously, which is to say, to reach. What does your treason look like? I hope this week, it looks like carrying a plant around for a day, inciting joy in strangers."
— Sara Sadek in Folkweaver, May 6, 2025

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If you'd like to learn more about my work, I've published books. Also, I write on Medium.

Massachusetts anti-trans law to keep kids out of sports?

My essay - April 10

I wrote: An Anti-Trans Sports Ban May Be Coming in Massachusetts (April 10, 5-min read)

Erin Reed has more info - April 11

Please also read and subscribe to Erin Reed: Massachusetts House Dems Pass Bill That Could Ban Trans Students From Sports; Senate Next. Democrats used a procedural motion to water the sports ban down rather than kill it outright out of fear of taking a vote and putting members on record. Apr 11, 2025

Reed explains that on April 9:

"...the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a $1.3 billion budget bill that included a transgender sports ban—the first such measure to pass any legislative chamber in a blue state. Rather than voting to strike down the provision, Democrats advanced an amendment allowing the ban to go into effect only after its impacts are studied."

Further, on April 10:

"...Democratic Representative Mike Connolly...was pressed on the lack of a vote to strike the sports ban. Connolly initially stated that taking such a vote “would not have advanced the interests of trans people,” and noted that Democrats did not want to proceed without “coordinating strategy with swing district Reps,” suggesting the decision to pass the sports ban language was made to protect vulnerable Democrats. When pressed further, Connolly revealed that the amendment did not receive a vote because of concerns about taking a vote “where the final tally — and the implications of that tally — are unknown,” implying that Democrats may have supported the sports ban outright had it come to a vote.

This outcome is deeply troubling. Sports bans have been introduced in nearly every state, and across the country—even in deep-red legislatures—Democrats have consistently voted in unified opposition. Earlier this year, every single Democrat in Montana, a state with a Republican trifecta, stood against such a ban and were unafraid of taking that vote. In contrast, Massachusetts Democrats, rather than taking a public vote to defend transgender youth, chose to shield their vulnerable members by advancing a study provision that leaves the door open to future enforcement."

Also

High School Runner Slams 'Bully' GOP Lawmaker For Attacking Race's Trans Winner: “I feel like a happy day was turned ugly by a bully who is using children to make political points,” Anelise Feldman, who finished second in the race, wrote of state Rep. Laurel Libby. Nina Golgowski, HuffPost, May 16, 2025