NBC Boston | With Trump back in office, where do women's reproductive rights stand?
By Mary Markos | Originally Published by NBC 10 Boston
A government website to educate people about their reproductive rights has been taken down on the heels of President Donald Trump's inauguration.
The move is exacerbating long-held fears about what his presidency means for abortion access.
"Just hours after taking the oath of office, Donald Trump took down reproductiverights.gov — a website to help women find health care and understand their rights," Rep. Katherine Clark, a Democrat from Massachusetts, posted on X. "They're wasting no time assaulting freedom."
Some say they saw this coming.
"The goal here is to control the flow of information," Reproductive Equity Now President Rebecca Hart Holder said. "We know that the Trump administration does not want women to know how to access comprehensive reproductive health care, so I'm disappointed. I'm not surprised."
Members of the LGBTQ+ community are reacting to President Donald Trump's executive order on gender policy.
"Not surprised," Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said. "It's what he ran on. I mean, he's proud of overturning Roe and taking away abortion access in this country."
The site, launched in 2022, explained which health plans are required to cover birth control under the Affordable Care Act, which Trump wants to repeal.
"We want to make sure women have access to health care they need and that we continue to protect our providers," Healey said.
"After watching the Biden-Harris Administration insist for four years that abortion is the solution to a woman's every need, we look forward to collaborating with President Trump's outstanding pro-woman cabinet to develop any resource a woman might need that respects her dignity and allows her to choose life," Massachusetts Citizens for Life President Myrna Maloney Flynn said.
Several laws have been passed to protect abortion care in Massachusetts over the years, and the state has its own website to educate people and connect them with resources.
"One of the most impactful things that happened was that the governor stockpiled mifepristone — one of two drugs in the medication abortion regiment — to make sure Massachusetts residents are safe, no matter what happens," Hart Holder said.
Reproductive health experts say this is only the beginning. The Trump administration could take other steps to restrict abortion access across the country, including tampering with FDA approval of mifepristone or invoking a zombie law called the Comstock Act.
"We are hopeful, based on President Trump's record of pro-life policies in his first term, that he will again defend unborn life during his second administration," said Attorney Sam Whiting, general counsel for the Massachusetts Family Institute. "This should start with using all available tools to protect pro-life pregnancy resource centers from the types of violence and censorship that they have experienced here in Massachusetts."
