As the Trump administration dismantles federal programs studying racial disparities in healthcare, mothers of color warn that the consequences for children and families could be devastating.
Every Mother’s Day, we celebrate mothers as protectors: intuitive, selfless and fiercely attuned to their children’s needs. We are told to trust mothers—to honor their instincts, their vigilance, their care. But what happens when a mother knows something is wrong, and no one listens?
When my daughter was 2 weeks old, she stopped eating, often going 24 hours with no food. She lost weight, cried constantly, and seemed to be in crippling pain. I took her to over 50 doctors appointments over five months. Yet instead of receiving help, I faced skepticism and hostility. I was told I was hysterical, hormonal and “over-medicalizing” my baby. As a mother, my experience of my own child was dismissed at every turn, and she was left to suffer.
What happened to us was traumatic, but it isn’t unique. I can’t say with certainty why providers ignored my concerns. There is evidence pointing to pervasive, unconscious bias in the medical establishment against women, especially those with darker skin tone. Or was it just terrible luck?
We may never know—because the research that answers these questions is rapidly vanishing as Donald Trump has written it off as “woke.” And for a president who wants to make America healthy again, his administration’s policies may have the opposite effect on Black and Brown children.
On a holiday devoted to honoring mothers, it is worth asking whose motherhood is actually respected in practice. Efforts to address racial bias in healthcare are being systematically dismantled under the Trump administration. Programs that could protect Black and Brown kids are being defunded, dismissed as “divisive,” and stripped from policy as part of the president’s aggressive war on anything that smacks of DEI.
This isn’t bureaucratic reshuffling—it’s a direct threat to mothers of color and our children. The systems that reveal who is being harmed by racial biases in healthcare delivery, and how, are being erased.
Much has been written about the impacts of these anti-diversity rollbacks on women’s health, education and the workplace, but their consequences for the health of children remain dangerously overlooked.
It wasn’t always this way.
Over the past decade, the U.S. made essential progress in identifying and rooting out racial disparities in healthcare. A 2016 National Institutes of Health (NIH) study revealed that doctors consistently underestimated pain in Black women, even with visible, acute symptoms. That same year, a study published in the American Medical Association analyzed a million pediatric appendicitis cases and found that Black children in severe pain were significantly less likely to receive pain medication than white children, despite reporting the same levels of distress.
Recognizing the need to close these gaps, the Biden administration launched an Equity Action Plan at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2021. The plan funded efforts to examine and address structural bias, including disparities in maternal and infant health. One HHS-backed study found that Black mothers in NICUs felt dismissed by doctors more than their white counterparts. The 2023 federal budget further prioritized investment in this research, building momentum toward healthcare that listens to mothers of color.
Now, under an all-consuming anti-diversity crusade, the Trump administration is eviscerating these small but key wins.
The dismantling of equity-driven programs might earn applause at rallies, but families like mine pay the price.
Last year, NIH cut funding for public health diversity initiatives. HHS suspended implicit bias training for providers. The Food and Drug Administration removed race-based data requirements from clinical trials. Executive orders halted federal grants exploring disparities in health outcomes. Federal agencies are now using AI to scan for and freeze projects containing terms like “equity,” “bias” or “race.” Even broader budget cuts have hit hardest where the need is greatest. The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities lost $534 million, nearly a quarter of its total budget.
These moves obliterate the infrastructure that could have shown whether what happened to my daughter and me was an outlier or part of a broader pattern of gendered medical bias. They silence data, disable oversight, and blind the healthcare system to its own prejudices.
The administration claims to want to make kids healthier by putting parents back in charge. But for families like mine, these cuts do the opposite.
My daughter’s problems began when severe postpartum preeclampsia destroyed my breastmilk supply and forced her onto formula. Desperate to find her relief after being dismissed by doctors, we were steered toward an unnecessary tongue-tie release, which only worsened her suffering.
By the time the medical establishment finally acknowledged that her condition was real and easily treatable—a milk allergy and reflux—the damage was done. Months of unmanaged pain had caused bottle aversion, a life-threatening condition in which babies refuse to eat at all due to fear and slowly starve themselves. She was later diagnosed with ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder), a trauma-based eating disorder that stunts growth. We spent thousands on treatment, and if my employer hadn’t advanced me sick leave, I would’ve lost my job too.
My daughter is better now. She plays and laughs, and is in preschool. But she still can’t eat enough to meet her nutritional needs and remains small for her age.
This isn’t just my story—it’s a warning.
The dismantling of equity-driven programs might earn applause at rallies, but families like mine pay the price. Healthcare for kids shouldn’t be tethered to the vicissitudes of a culture war. Continuing along this path will result in more children of color becoming casualties.
This Mother’s Day, flowers and tributes are not enough. If we truly value mothers, we must build a healthcare system that listens when they speak—and reject a political agenda that treats research on bias, inequity and harm as expendable. Because celebrating mothers means nothing if we continue to ignore them when their children are suffering.
