The Stakes For Women’s Rights as Trump’s Policies Take Shape
U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to the White House on January 20 has raised widespread concerns among advocacy groups about the future of women’s rights, particularly in areas like reproductive healthcare, workplace protections, and aid programs both in the U.S. and abroad. Advocates warn that Trump’s second term could exacerbate existing inequalities for women and reverse decades of progress.
“The return of Donald Trump to the White House is not just a U.S. political shift — it’s a direct threat to women’s rights globally,” Kavelle Christie, Director of the Gender Equity and Health Justice Program at Community Catalyst, told More to Her Story. “His first term demonstrated a clear pattern: dismantling protections for gender-based violence survivors, gutting sexual and reproductive health and rights, and using U.S. global influence to erode hard-fought gains in women’s autonomy.”
During his first term, Trump implemented several policies that had significant implications for women’s rights. His administration weakened the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive coverage requirement, limiting access to birth control for some women. It also halted an Obama-era rule that mandated large companies report pay data by race and gender, a measure designed to address the gender pay gap. Additionally, the administration made changes to Title IX, the law prohibiting sex discrimination in education, and appointed three conservative justices to the Supreme Court. These appointments contributed to the Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending federal protections for abortion rights.
One of Trump’s first moves upon returning to the White House has been to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), underscoring a broader agenda that advocates warn could devastate global health efforts, particularly for women and girls. Trump has also signalled intentions to both protect and restrict access to abortion pills, which account for nearly two-thirds of abortions in the U.S. annually, leaving women’s reproductive rights uncertain.
Since the repeal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, at least 14 states have enacted near-total abortion bans, with several others imposing significant restrictions. These laws have drastically curtailed access to reproductive healthcare, even in cases of rape, incest, or life-threatening complications. In states like Texas, restrictive abortion laws have already forced women to travel an average of 243 miles — a 1,925 percent increase — to access care, leaving many at severe risk. Others face delays in emergency care, often forced to wait until pregnancies become life-threatening. With the U.S. Supreme Court firmly conservative, advocates fear Trump’s administration could further limit reproductive rights, such as eliminating medical abortion, interstate travel for reproductive care, and universal access to contraception.
High-profile cases have emerged of women dying because doctors, fearing legal repercussions under abortion-prohibitive laws, hesitated to provide necessary treament. For example, reports have shown that physicians in Texas, faced with these laws, would “call the police before an ambulance” in situations involving pregnant women experiencing medical emergencies. Such cases highlight the grave consequences of abortion restrictions and signal the risks women face under increasingly stringent laws.
Advocates warn that a second Trump term is likely to embolden additional states to adopt similarly restrictive measures. His administration could pursue federal legislation to enforce a nationwide abortion ban, creating an even more hostile landscape for reproductive rights across the country.
The impact of Trump’s policies extends far beyond U.S. borders. During his first term, he expanded the Mexico City Policy, also known as the Global Gag Rule, barring foreign organizations that receive U.S. aid from providing or even discussing abortion services. Between 2017 and 2018 alone, foreign NGOs lost $600 million in family planning funding and over $11 billion in global health aid. Clinics in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia were forced to close, leaving communities without access to contraceptives, prenatal care, and life-saving treatments for HIV and malaria.
The consequences of such cuts are dire. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAs) found that between 2017 and 2021, the Global Gag Rule resulted in 108,000 maternal and infant deaths and 36,000 new HIV infections.
A broader gag rule threatens to devastate entire healthcare systems. “Globally, sexual and reproductive health services are essential for improving people’s health — particularly for women and girls — and averting preventable maternal deaths,” Christian Lindmeier, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), told More to Her Story. “[The] WHO supports research and evidence-based guidelines on a range of related issues from contraception to safe abortion care and preventing and treating sexually transmitted infections.”
With the United States as the world’s top donor to the WHO, the U.S. departure is likely to put programs across the organization at risk, WHO experts warn.
Trump’s foreign policy agenda also threatens to weaken multilateral commitments to women’s rights. His previous withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council and major funding cuts to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) already weakened global women’s rights efforts. With his return, some advocates worry that the U.S. may retreat even further from international commitments, jeopardizing international programs that combat gender-based violence, child marriage, and human trafficking in fragile states.
Domestically, Trump’s track record offers little optimism for women’s economic security. His administration weakened safeguards against pay discrimination, halted requirements for employers to disclose pay data by gender, race and ethnicity, and opposed efforts to expand paid family leave. Trump’s return could bring further deregulation, with cuts to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) — the agency responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws in the workplace.
Trump’s administration previously weakened the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) by allowing critical provisions to expire, such as protections for survivors of domestic abuse in immigrant and Indigenous communities. First instituted in 1994 during Bill Clinton’s administration, VAWA has funded programs to support survivors of gender-based violence, including crisis centres, legal assistance, and initiatives to reduce violence in underserved communities. Advocates fear that a second Trump term could further stall efforts to reauthorize and strengthen the act. Among the provisions most under threat are firearm restrictions for abusers and funding for crisis services. Without these safeguards, survivors may face greater barriers to safety and justice.
Despite pointing to initiatives like the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative as evidence of his commitment to women’s empowerment, critics argue such programs prioritized optics over impact. Analyses from Politico and Brookings, for example, found the initiative failed to address structural barriers, such as legal restrictions and systemic inequalities, leaving its long-term effectiveness in question.
“Women’s rights have always been a proxy battlefield for larger political struggles, but under a second Trump term, the war on women’s bodies would escalate,” said Christie of Community Catalyst. “Whether through laws restricting reproductive freedom, attacks on gender-based violence protections, or the promotion of regressive gender roles, the goal remains the same: to strip women of power and keep them in a state of vulnerability. The question is no longer just about what’s at stake — it’s about whether we are willing to let history repeat itself.”