Since the election was decided in November, like many people, I have been paying close attention to the individuals selected for appointment by the incoming Trump administration. As an OB-GYN and abortion provider, I know firsthand that these appointees will have a direct and devastating impact on our community’s access to healthcare, public health and social safety net infrastructure, and our ability to be well.
Over the last couple weeks, we’ve seen concerning pick after concerning pick for Trump’s cabinet positions. Individuals with anti-medicine, anti-science and antiabortion stances are being elevated to positions that will fundamentally shape the medical and public health systems as we know it.
Like the first Trump administration, these picks reify and reinforce an intentional platform rooted in restricting people’s bodily autonomy, making healthcare less accessible and amplifying dangerous pseudoscience, misinformation and disinformation about our healthcare. It is important that we are clear and unequivocal in naming the nominees for what they are: a direct threat to our collective health and well-being.
Prior to this election cycle, we saw a notable and dramatic uptick in legislative and judicial attacks against people who need access to all types of reproductive healthcare across the country, especially abortion care and gender-affirming care. It is more critical than ever that we center the needs of people who are accessing this care as we seek solutions to ensure every person can get what they need in the future.
In the wake of the Dobbs decision, we saw how harmful abortion bans are, as pregnant people like Candi Miller, Amber Thurman and Porsha Ngumezi were denied lifesaving interventions, resulting in their tragic and preventable deaths. Abortion bans are deadly. They keep people from care. They sow seeds of chaos and fear. We cannot even begin to address the harms that these bans have created without political will and leadership committed to centering the facts about how safe, effective and necessary access to comprehensive care in our communities remains.
Abortion bans are deadly. They keep people from care. They sow seeds of chaos and fear.
This is not what we are seeing coming out of the incoming administration. As we continue to watch President-elect Trump’s picks for leading critical organizations like the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Systems (CMS), we see individuals with careers devoted to restricting access to care instead of expanding it. This promotes inaccurate and misleading information about medicine and science instead of relying on evidence based research to inform their rhetoric, reinforcing harmful narratives about people so seek and those who provide abortion and gender-affirming care. This is not what we need. This is not what our communities deserve.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been nominated as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and if confirmed, will oversee 13 governmental divisions including NIH, CDC, FDA and CMS. Kennedy has no background in medicine or public health and has shared concerning anti-science rhetoric filled with misinformation about healthcare, including vaccines. His career has been dedicated to anti-vaccine mis- and disinformation campaigns with direct ties to international health crises in places like Samoa where his efforts to discourage people from receiving the measles vaccines led to a deadly and preventable measles outbreak.
As a physician who has dedicated my career to understanding the science of disease and the practice of medicine, I know full well that routine vaccination has not only been instrumental in eliminating deadly diseases and health crises worldwide, but it remains critical to curbing existing pandemics and avoiding new ones.
The data is clear: The World Health Organization estimates vaccines have saved more than 150 million lives over the past 50 years. As we continue to face increasingly common epidemics and pandemics, worsening morbidity and death due to preventable diseases, we should be expanding access to all preventive care, including vaccines and boosters, to ensure that every person who is eligible has the medically accurate information and resources they need to make informed decisions about their own bodies and their own lives.
The World Health Organization estimates vaccines have saved more than 150 million lives over the past 50 years.
Many continue to battle the grief, fear and devastation left in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. While we work to recover from that pandemic, we do not need leadership facilitating and precipitating another by prioritizing their own political agenda over the health and well-being of our communities.
We continue to see other nominees, like former Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), tapped to lead the CDC. Despite robust evidence, Weldon spread dangerous misinformation about the disproven link between vaccines and autism. His voting record speaks for itself, voting ban federal funding for needle-exchange programs, along with decreasing regulations around gun ownership and usage despite robust medical and scientific evidence citing gun violence as a public health concern.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, tapped to lead CMS, has no government agency experience, has long promoted pseudoscience treatments for COVID and has been found to have promoted lie after lie about medications and medical treatments on his television programs that led him to fame.
Dr. Marty Makary, a Fox News correspondent who has repeatedly shared dangerous misinformation about abortion on air, has been tapped to lead the FDA. He was outspoken about his belief in not masking at the height of COVID and encouraged dangerous practices that would make children, those with disabilities and immunocompromised individuals at even greater risk of morbidity and mortality.
Collaboratively, these cabinet picks have gained popularity by way of anti-intellectualism, misinformation and scare tactics, ultimately preying on the most vulnerable members of our community. They are not just poorly qualified to lead this work, they are dangerous.
Preparing for RFK’s HHS
In addition to pressuring the Senate to refuse the confirmation of these individuals who pose severe threats to our collective well-being, there are also direct steps we can take to prepare for the predicted rule changes and policy changes that might come with this administration should they be appointed. As we brace ourselves for a reality under a Kennedy-led HHS, we should all consider taking steps to prepare ourselves and our communities for the changes sure to come. This includes having conversations with our healthcare providers about getting up to date vaccines and boosters ahead of the inauguration, (re)committing to masking in public indoor spaces to protect ourselves and our communities and following the lead of evidence-based researchers, not misleading politicians.
We must pay attention to how decreasing access to healthcare resources is tied to increasing surveillance on individuals accessing abortion care and gender-affirming care. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, we have already seen an increase of arrests and prosecutions of pregnant people for their pregnancy outcomes, whether that be abortion or miscarriage. There is no doubt that these numbers will continue to increase under this administration and its appointees. Increasing information about disrupting cycles of criminalization linked to the healthcare system is vital to ensure we can keep ourselves and each other safe.
These cabinet picks have gained popularity by way of anti-intellectualism, misinformation and scare tactics, ultimately preying on the most vulnerable members of our community
As we prepare for the reality of an anti-reproductive health rule change that could further impact access to abortion care, contraceptive care and emergency contraception, I encourage people to have discussions with their families and healthcare providers about how to achieve goals around either getting pregnant or not getting pregnant as we face uncertain times. I also encourage people to familiarize themselves with the mutual aid organizations, community led and community facing organizations, and abortion funds in their area for up-to-date news about local resources and access to care.
I am proud to be in a community of physician advocates across the country who are not only committed to pushing back against the threats posed by the incoming administration, but who are more committed than ever to continuing to provide patients with the information and resources they need to make decisions about their healthcare. They will not silence us. We will continue to show up for the who need it most, always centering our communities.
