Why It Matters
President Donald Trump’s executive order creates a new National Institutes of Health division focused on women’s health research and establishes a White House task force. The order directs attention to women’s and girls’ prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care.
What Happened
Trump signed the order Monday, creating a Women’s Health Division within NIH. The new division will work alongside the agency’s existing Office of Research on Women’s Health, which was established in 1990.
The order also establishes a White House Women’s Health Task Force. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Susie Wiles will serve as its co-chairs, and the task force is scheduled to hold its first meeting Monday.
Melania Trump helped formulate the order and lead work on it. Officials listed as attending include Kennedy, Wiles, Brooke Rollins, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Dr. Erica Schwartz and Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Trump also revoked a 2024 executive order signed by former President Joe Biden on women’s health research and a 2023 memorandum that created the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research.
The order does not mention contraception or reproductive rights. The Food and Drug Administration is conducting a separate, ongoing safety review of abortion medication.
By the Numbers
Monday — date Trump signed the executive order
1990 — year the Office of Research on Women’s Health was established
2024 — year of Biden’s revoked executive order
2023 — year of the revoked memorandum
Zoom Out
The order comes two weeks before the midterm elections, which are scheduled for Nov. 3. The source material also places the action amid debate over the 2025 Republican tax and spending cut law, which included roughly $1 trillion in Medicaid spending cuts over 10 years.
Trump said, “Today, we’re taking historic action to promote women’s health through all phases of life.” The National Women’s Law Center criticized the order, while Dorianne Mason called it unfunded and said, “Women’s health has long been ignored as a federal priority.”
What’s Next
The White House task force’s first meeting is scheduled for Monday. The new NIH division is expected to work with the existing women’s health research office under the Department of Health and Human Services.