On Friday, thousands of anti-abortion advocates gathered for the annual National March for Life event in Washington. In a pre-recorded message, President Donald Trump said he was “so proud to be a participant” in overturning Roe v. Wade, the constitutional right to abortion that was reversed by the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision. Trump also pledged that he stood “proudly for families and for life,” striking a slightly different tone than he had later on in the campaign trail.
After delivering the message, Trump signed his first set of executive orders directly aimed at abortion rights after officially becoming president. The orders were celebrated by anti-abortion advocates, with the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America calling them “a big win for babies and mothers.”
The first executive order moved to “end the forced use of federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion” by enforcing the Hyde Amendment. The second revived a policy known as the “Global Gag Rule,” which states if global non-governmental organizations receive funding from the United States, they are banned from providing or offering information about abortions. Notably, the Global Gag Rule has historically been reinstated under Republican presidents since 1984.
As Salon previously reported, this move was expected as the first Trump administration made a similar move in 2017. But both executive orders come at a time when reproductive rights are in crisis across America thanks to the post-Dobbs landscape, marked by preventable deaths of infants and pregnant people while doctors flee abortion ban states, all of which is increasing what’s at stake both in the U.S. and internationally.
"The Hyde Amendment further hurts those who already struggle to access basic health care."
"Even before Roe v. Wade was overturned, the Hyde Amendment marginalized and stigmatized reproductive health care rather than acknowledging that it is essential, sometimes life-saving care,” Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of the National Abortion Fund, told Salon. “President Trump's Executive Order to enforce the Hyde Amendment creates yet another barrier to abortion access, specifically targeting low-income women and pregnant people who rely on Medicaid access and may otherwise be unable to afford abortion care.”
Indeed, the previous consequences of the Hyde Amendment have been devastating. In a dissenting opinion, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall said in 1980 it was designed to “deprive poor and minority women of the constitutional right to choose abortion.” It also paved the way for more anti-abortion federal restrictions to take hold throughout the last few decades. Previous studies have shown that when policymakers place restrictions on Medicaid coverage of abortion, one in four low-income women seeking an abortion is forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term.
"The Hyde Amendment further hurts those who already struggle to access basic health care,” Fonteno said. “It demonstrates yet again, that Trump and anti-abortion extremists prioritize politics over people.”
Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon's weekly newsletter Lab Notes.
In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark ruling Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs decision, significantly changing the landscape of reproductive care access across the country. As of the end of December 2024, according to KFF’s dashboard, 12 states have completely banned abortions. Six states restrict abortion access between 6 and 12 weeks of gestation. Four restrict access between 18 and 22 weeks. In contrast, 14 states have enshrined reproductive rights, including abortion access, into their state constitutions. While it has been well-documented that restrictive policies limit abortion access for people of low socioeconomic status, the post-Dobbs landscape has only worsened this.
“Post-Dobbs, state abortion bans have widened the already huge access gap created by the high cost of health care in our country, which is felt most acutely by low-income communities and communities of color,” Fonteno said. “Millions of women of reproductive age live in states where abortion is banned and nearly one in five must travel, often hundreds of miles, to get care.”
"He has spent his first week in office handing down anti-abortion directives gutting federal protections."
Depending on where a person needs to travel, they can easily spend up to $1,500 or $2,000 on travel expenses alone. Notably, it’s estimated that only one in three Americans can comfortably cover a $400 emergency expense, and insurance will rarely cover an abortion procedure out of state. Mini Timmarajui, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, said during Trump’s campaign, he tried to downplay his role in overturning Roe v. Wade.
“Now he has spent his first week in office handing down anti-abortion directives gutting federal protections,” Timmaraju said. “These policies inflict harm on those who need access to reproductive health care, including abortion, in our country, and around the world.”
Indeed, the effects of these executive orders won’t only be felt in the U.S. but globally. As detailed by Guttmacher Institue, the first Trump administration’s Global Gag Rule expansions had “devastating” impacts internationally, such as decreasing access to abortion and contraceptive care. It also created a “chilling” effect among clinicians who were scared to share family-planning resources due to a fear of it affecting funding.
Previous studies on the implementation of the Global Gag Rule have found that it can affect public health initiatives in other countries, like their HIV and AIDS programs. Tarah Demant, senior director of programs at Amnesty International USA, said in a media statement that Trump’s executive order reinstating the Global Gag Rule now throws global reproductive healthcare “into complete chaos.”
We need your help to stay independent
“The consequences of President Trump’s global gag rule are not theoretical,” Demant said. “As we’ve seen before, from blocking access to needed contraception to forcing more unsafe abortions and increasing maternal death rates, this attack on human rights will cause devastating harms for people worldwide in need of reproductive health care.”
People who see these consequences on the ground say this especially harms young women who are victims of rape, incest, and child marriage. In a media statement, Rachel Milkovich, global health policy specialist at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, said people around the world will now have “fewer points of service for their sexual and reproductive health needs” and fewer “safe places” to talk about their medical options. In some cases, restricting access to these services can be fatal.
“There are deadly consequences anytime access to sexual and reproductive health care is restricted,” Avril Benoît, CEO of MSF, said. “In the countries where MSF works, our staff see the lifesaving impact of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services — and we have seen patients who have died or suffered life-altering injuries because they were denied access to care.”
Read more
about reproductive rights
Shares