The government website ReproductiveRights.gov, launched in 2022 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a public awareness campaign, has gone offline following President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The website, which was active as recently as January 15, 2025, provided comprehensive information on access to abortion and reproductive health care, including a Know-Your-Rights patient fact sheet. It emphasized that reproductive health care, including access to birth control and safe and legal abortion care, is essential for health and well-being.

Key information previously available on the site included:

• Affirmation that most employer-based and private health insurance plans are required to cover certain prescription birth control methods under the Affordable Care Act
• A list of services covered by most insurance plans, such as breast and cervical cancer screenings, prenatal care, and HIV screenings
• Information on the FDA approval and safety of medication abortion using mifepristone and misoprostol

The shutdown of ReproductiveRights.gov aligns with previous actions taken during Trump’s first term, when his administration implemented policies that restricted access to reproductive health services. 

The website https://www.justice.gov/reproductive-rights/patients-and-providers is still available. 

During Trump’s first term, his administration implemented significant changes to the Title X program, often referred to as the “domestic gag rule”. These changes included:

1. Prohibiting Title X-funded clinics from providing abortion referrals.
2. Requiring physical and financial separation of Title X services from abortion care2.
3. Removing the requirement for providers to offer information and counseling on all pregnancy options, including abortion.

As a result of these changes:

• Approximately one-quarter of all Title X-funded sites left the program in 20191.
• The network’s capacity to provide contraceptive services was reduced by at least 46%, affecting roughly 1.6 million patients.
• More than 1,000 health centers across 33 states left the program, nearly halving the network’s capacity to serve patients.
• Six states were left without any Title X-funded providers.

The impact on low-income patients was significant, with the number of people served by the program dropping from 3.9 million in 2018 to 1.5 million in 2020, a 60% decrease.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been tapped by Trump to oversee the Department of Health and Human Services, has expressed conflicting views on abortion. 

“Abortion has been a notoriously divisive issue in America, but actually I see an emerging consensus: that abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks, and restricted thereafter. Even in the reddest of red states, voters reject total abortion bans,” Kennedy wrote in a June 14, 2024 Facebook post. “And in blue states, almost no one supports third-trimester abortions except to save the life of the mother. And so I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point.

But I also believe that we can reduce more abortions in America by choice than by force. This is at the heart of the ‘More Choices, More Life’ policy we’ve developed. Every abortion is a tragedy, and by better supporting mothers, parents, and families, we can dramatically reduce abortions across the board.” 

Although Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 during his campaign, the new Trump Administration is packed with Project 2025 architects including Russ Vought (expected to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)), Stephen Miller (Trump’s pick to serve as White House deputy chief of staff for policy and the president’s homeland security adviser), Karoline Leavitt (Trumps’ pick for White House Press Secretary), Brendan Carr (nominated to chair the Federal Communications Commission), Tom Homan (Border Czar).

Project 2025, a conservative policy agenda developed by the Heritage Foundation for the next Republican presidency, proposes extensive restrictions on reproductive rights and access to reproductive health care. The plan includes several far-reaching recommendations that would significantly impact reproductive autonomy both domestically and globally:

Abortion Access

• Severely limit abortion access nationwide by revoking FDA approval of mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortion.
• Revive the 19th-century Comstock Act to ban abortion medications, equipment, or materials from being sent through the U.S. Postal Service.
• Allow hospitals to deny emergency, life-saving abortion care to pregnant patients in crisis.
• Prosecute people for shipping and transporting abortion pills and supplies.
• Establish an abortion surveillance system that forces states to report abortion-related information.

Contraception and Family Planning

• Reinstate the “domestic gag rule” for the Title X program, prohibiting health care providers who receive Title X funding from providing abortion referrals.
• Broaden religious and moral exemptions to the contraceptive coverage guarantee, making it easier for employers to exclude contraceptive coverage from their employees’ health plans.

International Impact

• Support the Geneva Consensus Declaration, which commits countries to “protecting human life” and “strengthening the family”.
• Reinstate and expand the Global Gag Rule, blocking U.S. international funding for organizations that provide, advocate for, or refer to abortion care.

Information and Terminology

• Delete all terms related to gender, reproductive health, reproductive rights, abortion, sexual orientation, and gender identity from legislation, federal rules, agency regulations, contracts, agency websites, and grants.
• Change the Department of Health and Human Services into the Department of Life, with an anti-abortion task force replacing the existing Reproductive Healthcare Task Force.

This development comes at a time when abortion rights in the United States remain contentious. 

Twelve states currently have a total abortion ban, and four states ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. According to the Pew Research Center, currently, 63% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 36% say it should be illegal in all or most cases.