HHS scrubs reproductive and maternal health information, HIPAA guidelines from webpages
Shortly after President Trump’s inauguration, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began removing critical information from its various webpages. On January 21, NPR reported that HHS had deleted from its website any mention of abortion related to Biden-era policies protecting abortion and other reproductive health care services. Any remaining references to abortion cite policies from the first Trump administration or contain broken links.
The Trump administration also scrubbed agency webpages of information related to HIV, LGBTQ+ people, and other public health issues. A memo from the Office of Personnel Management instructed agencies to remove this information by 5:00 pm on January 31 to comply with President Trump’s executive orders regarding so-called “gender ideology” and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Some of the targeted terms included “pregnant people,” “transgender,” “nonbinary,” “antiracist,” “oppression,” “diversity,” and “DEI.” As a result, contraception guidelines and pages related to HIV testing directed specifically toward LGBTQ+ people, along with entire data sets of research, were taken down from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.
The CDC also quietly shut down the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), a critical public health program that has collected maternal and infant health data since 1988. PRAMS was established to identify disparities in health outcomes, particularly among Black and Native American mothers and infants, and to guide efforts to reduce maternal and infant mortality. Yet, without public notice, PRAMS stopped accepting data submissions, leaving experts in the dark about its future. The program is now under Institutional Review Board (IRB) review, with reports indicating that questions on racism, discrimination, sexual orientation, gender identity, and socioeconomic factors may be removed—stripping the survey of the very data it was designed to collect. At the same time, the CDC has removed the webpage housing maternal mortality reports and data, further obscuring critical information on the ongoing maternal health crisis.
Finally, on February 3, the New York Times reported that some content—primarily historical data, articles, and clinical guidelines—had been restored. However, that same day, Jessica Valenti reported that the Trump administration had also scrubbed the HHS website of any mention of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protections for reproductive health care. The HIPAA Privacy Rule was finalized during the Biden administration to clarify protections for health information related to abortion care. While this rule currently remains in effect, removing related information from the HHS website makes it more difficult for patients to know their rights, and casts doubts on the Trump administration’s intentions of enforcing the rule.
