Reproductive Freedom for All Calls Out White House’s Empty Executive Order on Women’s Health Two Weeks Before Election Day - Reproductive Freedom for All®

Formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America

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Reproductive Freedom for All Calls Out White House’s Empty Executive Order on Women’s Health Two Weeks Before Election Day

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

Reproductive Freedom for All Calls Out White House’s Empty Executive Order on Women’s Health Two Weeks Before Election Day 

Washington, DC — Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order that has no substance, creating a so-called Women’s Health Division at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a White House Women’s Health Task Force. The launch lacks any meaningful details on how this new division will actually improve women’s lives—and instead reeks of a desperate political ploy to curry favor with women voters ahead of the midterms. The reality is that this administration has attacked women’s health at every turn: denying access to life-saving care, restricting reproductive freedom, and cutting public health and medical research programs that serve women.

Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:

“Donald Trump is gutting women’s health care and ripping away our reproductive freedom, and a new “task force” won’t erase that record. Women know an election-year stunt when we see one—and we won’t be fooled.”

Through yesterday’s executive order, Trump is replacing Biden-era policies that supported women’s health with a new division and task force, led by hardline anti-abortion extremists and with zero dedicated funding. The task force will include:

  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Health and Human Services Secretary: Directed the FDA’s baseless and politically motivated review of mifepristone and has repeatedly stated that “every abortion is a tragedy.”
  • Susie Wiles, White House Chief of Staff: Told the Department of Justice to delay action on abortion until after the midterms.
  • Erica Schwartz, CDC Director: Called abortion surveillance “absolutely a critical component” of the CDC’s work during her confirmation hearing.
  • Heidi Overton (pending confirmation), Trump’s nominee for FDA Commissioner: Called abortion “corrosive” and, if confirmed, would oversee the FDA’s sham review of mifepristone.
  • Doug Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Leads the department that effectively banned abortion at the VA, slashing reproductive health care for service members, veterans, and their families.

The Trump administration has taken repeated action to undermine women’s health, and promised “the gloves will be off” on anti-abortion actions once the midterms are over. Trump has already terminated 16 Office of Minority Health grants worth $38 million that supported postpartum care, maternal health, and rural health access, redirecting the money toward what HHS calls the “root causes of infertility,” including low testosterone and erectile dysfunction. HHS has also canceled most grants under the bipartisan Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program and rewritten the Title X family planning program to sideline the birth control that helps people decide if, when, and how to build a family.

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For over 55 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.