WASHINGTON (AP) — During the transition period between President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump, there has been at least some coordination on West Wing affairs. But not when it comes to Biden's Gender Policy Council, which has worked to defend reproductive health care in the face of growing restrictions.
The first-of-its kind office was an effort to drive policy that would make life better for women and girls in the U.S. and in the world. Over the past four years, it has sought to advance reproductive freedom, make pay more equitable and increase participation by women in the workforce. It was formed through an executive order by Biden in September 2021, and members of his Cabinet have representatives on the council.
It's not unusual for new presidents to remake the West Wing to suit incoming priorities, and the Trump administration hasn't said one way or the other whether the council will remain. But Project 2025, a conservative handbook written for an incoming GOP administration, has said it should be axed — in part because it promotes abortion. And Biden officials are concerned about what that might mean — particularly as reproductive health continues to worsen for some women across the nation following the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Project 2025 is a detailed, 920-page roadmap for governing, led by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. A whirlwind of hard-right ambitions, its proposals include ousting thousands of civil servants and replacing them with Trump loyalists and reversing the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of medications used in abortions. The president-elect has claimed he has never seen it, but plenty of members of his incoming administration have written sections and many of Trump’s policies align.
According to the handbook, the incoming president should revoke the executive order that created the Gender Policy Council, “and every policy, including subregulatory guidance documents, produced on behalf of or related to the establishment or promotion of the Gender Policy Council and its subsidiary issues.”
It mischaracterizes the office as one with a principal intent of “gender affirming care” and “sex-change” surgeries on minors. The document also claims that by abolishing the office, Trump would “eliminate central promotion of abortion" and “comprehensive sexuality education.”
It suggests, instead, that the president should spend time developing new structures dedicated to “promoting life and strengthening the family.”
Other presidents have carved out space for women's issues, but there has been no office within the West Wing specifically dedicated to advancing policy changes on behalf of women. Since the creation of the office, Biden has signed three executive orders and a presidential memorandum directing his administration to protect access to reproductive health, among other efforts.
The council has also worked to address health disparities. Biden last year announced a women’s health research initiative at wife Jill’s urging that has invested nearly $1 billion. Women make up half of the U.S. population, about 168 million people, but medical research into their unique health circumstances has largely been underfunded and understudied.
The council has also worked to lower child care payments and call for better paid leave for families.
“The reality of the situation is that we’ve done a huge amount that helps not only women — women and families — but really it helps our society as a whole," said Jen Klein, the chairwoman of the council.
Klein believes that some of the work of the Gender Policy Council won’t be undone. The Violence Against Women Act, for example, was reauthorized in 2022. And other issues have long been considered bipartisan. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is Trump's nominee for secretary of state, co-sponsored the Women, Peace and Security Act of 2017, a bipartisan law signed by Trump that seeks to protect women and girls globally from violence and include women in conflict prevention.
“We had reached a point in American history where many of these issues were not only bipartisan, but where the business case had been made,” Klein said. “Care is a perfect example of that. If you think about the trajectory of the last 10 years, these are issues that are no longer seen as women’s issues.”
But reproductive health care is much more contentious. The Gender Policy Council was formed before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned abortion rights in 2022. Since then, as states have restricted access to health care, access to abortion and other reproductive care has become a major focal point for the office.
The council has spearheaded efforts throughout the administration to help safeguard access, including by working with the department of Health and Human Services to issue guidance reminding hospitals of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, a federal law that requires doctors to stabilize or treat any patient who shows up at an emergency room. Women have been turned away during miscarriages and left bleeding in parking lots in part because of abortion restrictions.
Trump has waffled on abortion access particularly during his campaign. He has said that abortion limits should be left to the states, and has declined to endorse a national ban. Trump has shifted between boasting about nominating the justices who helped strike down federal protections for abortion and trying to appear more neutral.
Most recently, he told NBC that he was not likely to restrict access to medication abortion. “I'll probably stay with exactly what I've been saying for the last two years, and the answer is no," he said. But “things do change.”
Colleen Long, The Associated Press
