Pink Politics: Women's Health Rights

Women’s rights have become political, not an unalienable truth. The start of the attack began during the Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women Health Organization, overturning Roe v Wade and implying that women’s rights to access healthcare are something to be disputed. Roe v. Wade made abortion a federally protected with “Right to Privacy” until 24 weeks of pregnancy, but during the Dobbs decision the court overturned the previous ruling made in Roe v. Wade meaning that states now have the power to make their own abortion laws including strict bans. 

Image sourced from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/05/14/dc-bans-off-our-bodies-protest/

Recent analyses have informed us that current actions are not just political strategies but also ways to bring back the traditional patriarchal ideologies into American lives. The idea that limiting access to abortions is to protect women is an authoritarian strategy to reduce women’s rights, by simultaneously championing the removal of other forms of birth control and family planning.  These intentional actions leave women vulnerable and dependent. The “Project 2025” agenda includes restricting access to abortion rights and eliminating federal support for providers who offer reproductive services such as Planned Parenthood. Low-income women and women of color who already face the highest maternal birth mortality in the country, have seen increases in deaths by 56% in states such as Texas. By targeting “Title X” funding and rewriting regulations for the family planning program, funding has been taken away for clinics and healthcare providers who provided pregnancy testing, STD screening, abortions, and other basic reproductive health care. 

International observers also share concern about global implications on these attack to women’s healthcare. Cutting funding for women's health research undermines women in the US but also women and worldwide as American funding cuts affect international initiatives. With $2.7 billion in funding cuts to the National Institute of Health (NIH), slowing down critical medical research leading to fewer new treatments and drugs for diseases like cancer and sclerosis, to diseases like HIV and PCOS (PolyCystic Ovary Syndrome).

Even more, the regressive reproductive health policies endanger women’s access to contraception and preventative care. These attacks on women’s health care access devalues women’s autonomy over their own bodies. Instead of empowering women with resources, these policies limit their options and increase dependence. For example, legislation that stripped Planned Parenthood of Medicaid reimbursements. The funding cuts forced many Planned Parenthood clinics to close across the US leaving tens of thousands of patients, especially low-income families without access to basic essential healthcare.

These policies harm women, girls, and LGBTQI+ individuals by failing to protect their basic human rights by weakening protections for women domestically, signalling to the world that women’s rights are negotiable, and not something important.

These policies don’t just threaten U.S. reproductive rights but also international family planning initiatives. Cutting funds to global programs leave millions without access to contraception or maternal care.  Thus, our reproductive healthcare initiatives go beyond the US, shaping global gender politics in ways that influence women’s health and autonomy worldwide. 

Works Cited

“Donald Trump's First 100 Days of Project 2025: Harms to Women, Girls, and LGBTQI+ People.” National Women's Law Center, 30 April 2025, https://nwlc.org/resource/donald-trumps-first-100-days-of-project-2025-harms-to-women-girls-and-lgbtqi-people/. Accessed 8 August 2025.

Gilmore, Leigh. “Reducing women's rights — in the name of protecting them — is central to Trump's agenda.” WBUR, 30 May 2025, https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2025/05/30/donald-trump-rhetoric-women-authoritarianism-leigh-gilmore. Accessed 9 August 2025.

Gender Equity Policy Institute. “Maternal Mortality in the United States after Abortion Bans - Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI).” Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI), 23 Apr. 2025, thegepi.org/maternal-mortality-abortion-bans/.

Haines, Errin. “Is this what President Trump meant by protecting women?” The 19th News, 14 February 2025, https://19thnews.org/2025/02/trump-protecting-women/. Accessed 7 August 2025.

Khalique, Amina. “The Trump Administration Is Endangering Women's Reproductive Health.” Center for American Progress, 21 July 2025, https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-trump-administration-is-endangering-womens-reproductive-health/. Accessed 6 August 2025.

Luthra, Shefali. “How women's health research is impacted by Trump's federal funding cuts.” The 19th News, 27 March 2025, https://19thnews.org/2025/03/women-lgbtq-health-research-trump-funding/. Accessed 6 August 2025.

Ray, Nat. “Trump Presidency Poses Grave Threats to Reproductive Freedoms.” Center for Reproductive Rights, 6 November 2024, https://reproductiverights.org/trump-presidency-2024-threats-reproductive-freedoms/. Accessed 7 August 2025.

Sáez, Macarena. “Interview: Women's Rights Under Trump.” Human Rights Watch, 18 November 2024, https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/11/18/interview-womens-rights-under-trump. Accessed 6 August 2025.

Schraer, Rachel. “Why Trump's next presidency poses a new threat to women's health.” Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 3 December 2024, https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2024-12-03/why-trumps-next-presidency-poses-a-new-global-threat-to-womens-health. Accessed 6 August 2025.

Tatum, Amy. “What Trump's first 100 days mean for America's women.” The Conversation, 29 April 2025, https://theconversation.com/what-trumps-first-100-days-mean-for-americas-women-255269. Accessed 7 August 2025.

“The Trump Administration's First Actions in 2025 Targeting Patients, Providers, and Reproductive Health Care Access.” National Women's Law Center, 25 February 2025, https://nwlc.org/resource/the-trump-administrations-first-actions-in-2025-targeting-patients-providers-and-reproductive-health-care-access/. Accessed 6 August 2025.

“What a Second Trump Term Means for Reproductive Rights.” Population Matters, 20 January 2025, https://populationmatters.org/news/2025/01/what-a-second-trump-term-means-for-reproductive-rights/. Accessed 7 August 2025.