Trump Targets Birth Control With Federal Shutdown Layoffs

10.16.25

Click to skip ahead: Attacks on Birth Control looks at the Trump administration’s latest not-so-slick move. Anti-Abortion Strategy details some of the ways Republicans are passing informal abortion bans. In the States, news from Kansas, Virginia, Texas, Wisconsin, and more. Extremism Rising reports on the threats that shut down a New Hampshire clinic event. And in Attacks on Abortion Pills, Republicans have sent yet another letter harassing the FDA about mifepristone.

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Attacks on Birth Control

The New York Times reports today that the Trump administration has quietly and unceremoniously fired most of the Office of Population Affairs—the federal department that runs the nation’s family planning program. In other words, it’s another attack on contraception.

The move comes at the same time that the Trump administration has redefined certain kinds of contraceptives as ‘abortifacients’, and as the Republican budget bill has decimated birth control access for Medicaid patients nationwide.

As we’ve written so many times before, this is how the Trump administration can ban birth control without making it explicitly illegal: they just need to make it impossible to get.

As the former deputy assistant secretary for population affairs under the Biden administration told the Times, “The high-quality, confidential care [women] have relied on may disappear overnight…If there’s no one there to run it, then functionally the program ceases to exist.”

Which, of course, is the point. It allows the Trump administration to attack the right to contraception without—they hope—facing political blowback.

To no one’s surprise, the anti-abortion movement is thrilled. Extremist Lila Rose called the move “amazing news,” and claimed that the federal office “push[ed] sexually deviant propaganda to kids.”

Title X attacks have always been on the conservative agenda: they’re all over Project 2025. But I do wonder if the timing of the firings had anything to do with appeasing the anti-abortion conservatives who are pissed off that the White House just announced a new IVF initiative. (It’s very much a nothingburger, but evangelical Christians are upset anyway.) Just a thought!

Anti-Abortion Strategy

While we’re on the topic of banning something without actually making it illegal, let’s take a look at what’s happening in Virginia—where the Lynchburg city council is weaponizing boring, mundane zoning policy to restrict abortion.

City leaders have been debating a local ordinance to prohibit abortion clinics from operating within 1,000 feet of certain locations—including churches, public libraries, schools, parks, children’s museums, and day care centers.

Councilman Martin Misjuns cited the recent allegations that a Fairfax County high school counselor helped two 17-year-olds get abortions years ago—a tabloid-esque scandal that Republicans have been using in the lead-up to the November election.

“An abortion clinic across the street from a high school is just not something that we should be doing,” Misjuns said.

I couldn’t roll my eyes back any further if I tried.

The councilman also argued that clinics are “often protested” and that children shouldn’t be exposed to “picket lines.” Which is…telling. If you think children will be frightened by anti-abortion activists, then perhaps they’re the problem—not the clinic that’s being harassed!

Unfortunately, the city council unanimously voted to move the ordinance forward, and it will now be sent to the planning commission. Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia called the move “a waste of time and public resources.”

“The role of a city council is to serve its residents and solve local problems, not to create new ones,” she said.

This is why it’s so important to pay attention to what’s happening on the local level: Anti-abortion activists think no one will care enough about local zoning laws to catch on to the fact that they’re trying to shut down clinics in a state where abortion is legal.

In a similar vein, anti-abortion publications are reporting (and thrilled) that some local contractors are boycotting the construction of a new abortion clinic in New Mexico. The clinic would be operated by the University of New Mexico Health System, and take on patients from neighboring communities in Texas.

The Southwest Coalition for Life boasts that local builders aren’t signing on to build the facility, and GOP state Sen. David Gallegos has said the same—claiming three different “major” contractors approached his office and sought help to decline to work with the government.

But we’ve seen this sort of thing happen before: anti-abortion groups will contact—and harass—contractors, landlords, etc to stop a clinic from opening.

Consider it a reminder that some of the anti-abortion movement’s most effective attacks can appear, on the surface, boring and administrative.

In the States

The trial that will determine what abortion access looks like in Kansas was back in court today. If you need a refresher, read a detailed breakdown of the case here.

The short version is that despite voters making their wishes very clear, Republicans are trying to hold onto seriously onerous and harmful restrictions—from a 24-hour waiting period to a mandate that doctors lie to patients about the risks of abortion, and ask them invasive questions about why they want to end their pregnancy.

Naturally, the laws are framed as “women’s right to know.”

In court today, two anti-choice women testified that they regret their abortions—which is unfortunate for them, but not a reason to stop other women from having the same choice. If you want to know how desperately Republicans are having to reach for witnesses, consider that one of the women was a 66-year old who never had an abortion in Kansas—let alone an abortion under Kansas laws. Another witness was an OBGYN who travels regularly to testify against abortion rights; her going rate is $800 an hour.

We’ll keep you updated as the case moves forward and people with actual skin in the game have something to say!

There’s a debate tonight between Virginia’s candidates for Attorney General—Jay Jones and Jason Miyares. In advance of the event, reproductive rights groups have launched a six-figure ad campaign highlighting Miyares extreme record on abortion rights.

From Sara Tabatabaie, Executive Director of Vote Pro-Choice:

“Virginians know that decisions about pregnancy are deeply personal and should remain between patients and healthcare providers—not politicians. Yet Miyares has described abortion as ‘sick and barbaric,’ laid the groundwork to overturn Roe v. Wade, and endorsed abortion bans that would criminalize patients, doctors, and nurses.”

We reported last week that eight people were arrested in Texas in connection with the criminal abortion case against midwife Maria Rojas. One of those eight individuals, Yhonder Lebrun Acosta, made his first, virtual court appearance yesterday. Charged with practicing medicine without a license at one of Rojas’ clinics, Acosta and his attorney say he’s innocent of the charges.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been boasting about the arrests, calling the individuals a “cabal” and unsubtly smearing them as “illegal.” Jenna Hudson, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told AED last week:

“It’s no coincidence that he is targeting Rojas and these clinics amid the widespread anti-immigrant sentiment nationwide.”

If you need information on pregnancy criminalization, go to Pregnancy Justice. For free legal help as a patient or health practitioner, call If/When/How’s free Repro Helpline: 844-868-2812

This month, Planned Parenthood clinics in Wisconsin halted abortion services amid the broader push-and-pull of Republicans effectively defunding any organization that provides abortion. Since then, Democrats and Republicans in the legislature have responded with dueling abortion bills, the Daily Cardinal reports.

As we reported yesterday in Clinic Watch, Democrats introduced a bold bill to repeal all medically unnecessary abortion restrictions, in the hopes of making it easier for patients to get abortions—even if they’re out-of-state or via telehealth care.

Republicans, meanwhile, introduced a bill that would redefine abortion to exclude miscarriage treatment or certain kinds of emergency care. We’re used to conservatives attempting to separate ‘good’ and ‘bad’ abortions—now, they’re suggesting these ‘good’ abortions, like abortions for ectopic pregnancies, aren’t abortions at all. That just isn’t how any of this works, obviously.

But this isn’t just about shame and stigma. As AED has pointed out many times before, Republicans are proactively trying to change medical and legal language in order to divorce abortion from healthcare. And most distressingly—make it appear as if abortion is never necessary to save a person’s life.

We’ll publish a stand-alone piece soon about this bill and how it plays into that broader chilling strategy, but read our explainer below to learn more in the meantime:

Conservatives Want to End 'Exceptions' for Women’s Lives

Quick hits:

• How redistricting in Missouri could impact abortion rights;

• A Wisconsin OBGYN explains the difference between abortion being legal and accessible;

• The Times Standard on California’s suit against a religiously-affiliated hospital that denied women emergency abortion care;

• And Ohio experts are coming out in support of mifepristone in light of Republican attacks.

Extremism Rising

At a time when conservatives are accusing the left of ‘political violence,’ time and again, the most persistent political violence winds up being from anti-abortion extremists. Last week, the Lovering Center, a sexual health clinic in New Hampshire was forced to cancel their fundraiser in the wake of violent anti-abortion threats.

The venue terminated the clinic’s event contract, a decision they say “was based solely on safety considerations and should not be interpreted as a political statement.”

But Tanna Clews of the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation says, “Canceling an event for a documentary about abortion is not neutral, and it’s a political decision that is clearly anti-abortion.” (The venue has since apologized for canceling.)

Meanwhile, while organizations like the National Abortion Federation track major surges in attacks against clinics—from arson to death threats—anti-abortion activists maintain that they are the real victims. (DARVO at its best!)

Directly feeding IRL anti-abortion violence by framing abortion as murder, I give you groups like the American Life League, which just published an op-ed inexplicably claiming the legal system is biased in favor of abortion rights—and calling for anti-abortion activists to be “warriors”:

“We are warriors for Christ, members of His holy army who are willing to sacrifice everything for Him. We see souls being harmed and broken by the lies of the enemy… Scoffing and unkind words will not harm us, but acts based on lies like reproductive choice are designed to mask the bloody battle that occurs not only in clinics and hospitals but in the homes of women ingesting deadly abortion drugs.”

This kind of rhetoric has always been around, but we’ve noticed it ramp up significantly since Trump took office—and since he made clear that anti-abortion extremists have the green light to do what they want.

Finally, if you want to talk about extremism and violent incitement, I give you this very bizarre featured image created for an article in the Washington Times—featuring an unborn fetus with the head of an enormous skull. You’ll just have to see it to believe it.

“Abortion liberation can be what we want it to be when we work together to love on and support one another and create the abortion experiences we desire for ourselves and others. Abortion is ours. This has always been our movement.”

- Renee Bracey Sherman and Regina Mahone in Liberating Abortion, now available in paperback

Attacks on Abortion Pills

Republican Senators have sent yet another letter to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, demanding action on abortion medication.

Just last week, nearly every GOP senator signed a letter to Makary and HHS head Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the FDA’s very mundane approval of the generic form of mifepristone. While the Republicans are aware the agency didn’t have much of a choice, they’re using it as an opportunity to exert some extra pressure on the Trump administration.

Today’s more pointed letter came from HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, and sixteen other Republican senators.

Much of the letter repeats the bullshit we’ve heard before: like false claims that mifepristone is unsafe and demands that the FDA bring back restrictions on the medication. But it also holds Makary’s feet to the fire by citing some legal code about FDA requirements—and asking for documentation on the FDA/HHS’s ‘safety review’ into the drug.

Remember: not too long ago, the agencies said they’d be conducting their own study into mifepristone. This letter calls Makary out a bit, making clear that Republicans are watching and have no plans to let up.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a Republican letter on abortion pills if it didn’t contain something about ‘coercion’. The senators write that the FDA’s approval of the generic form of mifepristone “fails to mitigate the risks to women that have been identified and fails to protect women from the coercive use of the drug.”

In a release lauding the letter, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser echoes that language about coercion and abuse. (Which is not surprising, given her group probably came up with the talking point to begin with.)

“The lawlessness surrounding the distribution of these drugs…has put drugs in the hands of abusers of underage girls and women.”

One more time, since we really can’t repeat this enough: Abortion bans—not abortion access or abortion pills—are the real threat to abuse victims. Women who seek and are denied abortion are at greater risk of long-term domestic violence. In the first year after Dobbs, calls to the National Domestic Violence Hotline involving reproductive coercion doubled.

We could go on. But we could also let anti-abortion politicians’ actions—like recruiting and collaborating with controlling or abusive men to wage legal battles over their partners’ abortions—speak for themselves.