A website created by the Biden administration just after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade was shut down by the Trump administration. A Biden-Harris campaign rally in January 2024 is pictured.
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/Bloomberg via Getty Images
On the second day of the second Trump administration, a research because the term “abortion” on the federal Department of Health and Human Services website brings up 166 results. THE falling for something dates from January 24, 2020, during President Trump’s first term, and explains how California violated rights of two religious organizations that wanted to offer health plans that excluded coverage for abortion.
Trying to sort the results to see the most recent items initially returns no links and the message says “search unreachable”.
A site launched by the Biden administration after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ReproductiveRights.gov, is now a broken link. (An archived version of the site is always visible via Internet Archive.)
These changes in information available on government websites reflect the new Trump administration’s low-key moves on abortion.
Abortion was not mentioned or discussed in Trump’s inaugural address. Nor was it the focus of the dozens of executive actions he took after being sworn in. And a series of policy moves on abortion that are typically “almost automatic” when a Republican president takes office were notably absent from Trump’s early agendas. said Marie Zieglerlaw professor at UC Davis who has written extensively on abortion.
For example, she notes that Trump did not immediately reinstate the Mexico City Policy, also known as the Global Gag Rule, which limits funding for international organizations providing family planning services.
“I think it’s too early to say that the Trump administration won’t take meaningful action on abortion,” Ziegler said. It could, for example, revive the Comstock lawor limit the availability of abortion medications via telehealth, but on day one he didn’t seem eager to signal that those kinds of policies were coming. “It may be that Trump just wants to do these things when the lights aren’t as bright, and it may be that he doesn’t want to do them at all, but it’s too early to know which of these possibilities he acts.”
During Trump’s first term, “conscience rights” dominated when it came to abortion, which was still legal in every state. Rights were skewed toward religious organizations and providers who opposed abortion. The HHS.gov website appears to have been quickly changed to reflect this view again. HHS did not immediately return a request for comment.
The Biden administration has held that abortion is an individual right. Today, it is difficult to find content that reflects this position on federal government websites. However, some documents are still online, including a 2022 action plan to “protect and strengthen reproductive care”.
The now-defunct ReproductiveRights.gov site included information about people’s rights to contraception, abortion medications and procedures, and emergency and preventive care during pregnancy. He also directed people to AbortionFinder for more information on state restrictions and financial assistance for people seeking abortions.
Trump’s pick to lead HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has not yet had his scheduled confirmation hearing. Until last year, Kennedy had a very different stance from Trump on abortion, saying he strongly favored abortion access. It’s a open question whether abortion is anti-abortion Senate Republicans will support it.