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By Terry McGovern and Ira Memaj
How have we so quickly devolved into a country that devalues women and girls so profoundly?
I think of Nevaeh Crain crying in pain, too weak to walk, bleeding, feverish, and vomiting. It was the day of her baby shower, and the 18-year-old sought emergency care three times over the course of 12 hours. On her first visit, providers ignored Crain’s abdominal cramps; doctors did not evaluate her pregnancy. They discharged her with a strep throat diagnosis. At her second visit, providers confirmed she screened positive for sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to an infection. Upon detecting a heartbeat on her six-month fetus, staff discharged Crain with more antibiotics. At Crain’s third hospital visit, they did not detect a fetal heartbeat, but by the time she was moved to the intensive care unit, her organs began to fail, and she was pronounced dead. Nevaeh is just one of many victims of President Trump’s approach to women’s health and right to bodily autonomy.
Sexual harassment and assault accusations have swirled around many of Trump’s cabinet nominees and the president himself. Globally, one in three women will experience gender-based violence, specifically physical and sexual violence. In the U.S., 81% of women report experiencing some form of sexual harassment or assault. The new administration’s seeming support of sexual assault with impunity is not helping and the president’s emphasis on “innocent lives” of perpetrators being destroyed by false accusations, rather than the rising rates of gender-based violence, is particularly disturbing given the administration’s intent to implement policies that harm women and girls.
During its first term, the Trump administration repeatedly sought to remove the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls, stripping them from their bodily autonomy. Whether it was eroding international protection for sexual and reproductive health or stacking courts with anti-choice judges, the Trump administration has damaged the health of women and girls around the world.
The damage of the Trump administration extends far beyond installing anti-choice judges or overturning Roe. The reinstating and expansion of the Global Gag Rule (GGR) had a chilling effect on all U.S. global health assistance, including those who collaborate with gagged entities despite not receiving any U.S. global health support. Women and girls across the world felt the harms of GGR as access to contraception and safe abortion services were severely reduced. GGR also weakened medical and public health systems, resulting in increased number of pregnancies and unsafe abortion practices. In fact, an article from The Lancet found that the expansion of GGR did not reduce the number of abortions, however, it did result in riskier abortion practices.
Similarly in the U.S., the first Trump administration made sweeping changes to Title X, the nation’s only federal funding source for family planning and preventative health services for low-income and uninsured individuals. Under their new regulations, provisions of abortion care and referral were prohibited regardless of the fact that Title X funding has never been used to finance abortions. According to Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), these changes led to a reduction of provider network and restricted access to other sexual and reproductive care services such as STI and HIV testing and treatment, cervical and breast cancer screenings, as other preventative health services.
While majority of Americans support the right to abortion as well as various forms of contraception, the new Trump administration on Friday night reinstated the global and domestic gag rules, known as the Mexico City Policy and the Hyde Amendment, respectively. These actions will defund entities increasing access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, once again disrupting and in some cases destroying fragile health care networks upon which many vulnerable women and girls depend.
The evidence speaks for itself: the Trump administration policies limiting bodily autonomy hurt women and girls. Restricting abortion does not decrease abortion. Unfettered rejection of allegations of sexual misconduct or gender-based violence creates an environment in which abuse occurs with impunity. Those of us who care about the human rights of women and girls must organize to oppose these harmful policies and toxic environment.
Terry McGovern is senior associate dean for for academic and student affairs. Ira Memaj is a PhD student and adjunct professor.
