NOV 06, 2024
The Trump Administration And The Rolling Back Of Women’s Rights And Bodily Autonomy
Disclaimer- This blog post is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently and draw their own conclusions.
Donald Trump’s re-election as president poses a grave threat to the rights of women both in the United States and globally. These concerns reflect Trump’s first-term presidency where he steadily chipped away at rights relating to women’s health, employment, economic security, and overall rights using his arsenal of think tanks led by former aides, social media propaganda, supreme court justices, and elected officials.
During his first days in office, Trump reinstated and expanded the global gag rule, a law that prevents foreign NGOs that are supported by US funding from promoting or providing abortions. “This has led to defunding groups that even give information about safe abortion,” said Dr. Daniel Grossman, director of UC San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health. The Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) helped to ensure that 62.4 million women had access to birth control by guaranteeing that it was covered in all health insurance plans and required employers to offer insurance that covered contraception for women. The effect of the Act significantly reduced the rate of unintended pregnancy which was at a 30-year low and the rate of pregnancy among teenagers. While the administration failed to fully repeal the ACA, it found other ways to undermine the law and curtail the coverage it provided. The Trump administration and congressional Republicans were also laser-focused on defunding Planned Parenthood. Of course, one of Trump’s biggest victories on the war on women was overturning Roe v. Wade where he proudly exclaimed, “After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade” on his social media platform.
Based on his first-term record and campaign promises, Trump’s second term is expected to include:
- Further restrictions on reproductive rights and abortion access
- Implementation of more comprehensive pregnancy outcome monitoring
- Limited female representation in cabinet positions
- Potential expansion of restrictions on international family planning organizations
How did we get here?
I grew up admiring the strong women I met in law school and in human rights and environmental organizations I was a part of who challenged societal norms and fought for and protested to get abortion rights in the 70’s. During my formative years, I would spend hours in coffee shops with law school professors and powerful female attorneys who sowed the seeds for me to have the rights I have now. Where are the women in this generation setting the same example? They are on social media. Young women are being inundated with messages and propaganda no doubt fueled by the Trump administration and conservatives encouraging them to give up their power. Beauty trends and makeup tutorials inundate social media while women’s rights were steadily being taken away. The latest social media trends encourage women to be “demure”, not to speak up, not to have a voice… not to exist. #Tradwife is trending on TikTok with 141.9 million posts. The trend has the underpinnings of religious fundamentalism and encourages women to give up their power in order to be subservient to their husbands. There is nothing wrong with being a homemaker, but the idealized nature of these videos offer being a homemaker as a refuge to dealing with a corporate environment that can often be harsh to women. They offer an escape rather than a solution to the injustice women face at work due to pervasive discrimination and sexual harassment.
How do we move forward?
- Be a critical thinker. Being a critical thinker is crucial to ensuring your rights are not stripped away from you. Think about everything deeply and how it not just impacts you but how society at large is impacted.
- Spread joy everywhere you go. Wallowing in despair or being in victim-mode is not going to change the administration, nor will it wipe out the negativity or hate the administration will inevitably bring. Being a joyful person aware of your power has the ability to change the entire world and the course of history.
- Stop living in survival mode. Being focused on the economy, the price of eggs, inflation, and immigration has allowed us to elect an individual who has promised to curtail and roll-back our bodily autonomy and the very freedoms that make us Americans. Place an emphasis on your rights which is the very thing that makes you human.
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