It has now been one year of the second Trump administration, with many attacks to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice aligning entirely with Project 2025’s blueprint. Amy Friedrich-Karnik, Director of Federal Policy at the Guttmacher Institute and Anna Bernstein, Principal Federal Policy Advisor at the Guttmacher Institute, sit down to talk with us about the year’s assaults on sexual and reproductive health and rights, LGBTQI+ rights, and science and healthcare by the Trump administration.

From day one of their return to office, protections for abortion access put in place by the Biden administration were rolled back. This included several protections for privacy, emergency care, and veteran’s access. President Trump immediately pardoned anti-abortion activists who had previously violated the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act and has stopped enforcing the act in most places. Anti-science rhetoric increases, with the Food and Drug Administration endorsing junk-science against mifepristone-- one of the drugs used in a medication abortion. To promote mis- and disinformation, data sets, research, and websites were removed from the internet. The passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act defunded Planned Parenthood and set work restrictions on Medicaid coverage. Additionally, the administration froze Title X funding, expanded the already-expanded Global Gag Rule, and issued endless attacks to the transgender community.

For more information, check out Future Hindsight: https://www.futurehindsight.com/

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A humanitarian crisis-- where life has been upset by natural disaster, conflict, or forced displacement-- can disproportionately impact women and girls. Women and girls, at disproportionate risk for gender-based violence, maternal health complications, and barriers to accessing aid, have different requirements in these settings. Julianne Deitch, Associate Director of Research at the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC), looks back with us on this last year’s foreign aid cuts and talks to us about the substantial impacts on women and girls in crisis.

Before 2025, the U.S. was one of the largest donors to humanitarian aid globally, with aid hovering at 13 billion dollars annually to address immediate needs for population in crises. Still, humanitarian aid made up less than 0.1% of the gross national income. In January 2025, the Trump administration froze all U.S. foreign aid and dismantled U.S. foreign assistance infrastructure (including closing USAID). Over the last year, WRC collected concrete evidence from over 32 countries. They found that women and girls in humanitarian crises: 1) have lost access to necessary health care (maternal health, sexual and reproductive health care, antiviral drugs, and more); 2) are less safe from gender-based violence; and 3) have lost access to women-led, targeted, trusted, local support. Increased funding, advancing the life-saving principle of gender-specific humanitarian aid, supporting local, women-led organizations, and holding governments accountable are all recommendations for addressing this reality.

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The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community is made up of various ethnicities, languages, and translation needs, requiring different and individualized advocacy and policy discussions-- particularly when that policy relates to sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. Christina Baal-Owens, Executive Director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) sits down to talk with us about recent research performed by NAPAWF showing the most pervasive barriers to abortion access for the AAPI community and AAPI immigrants in the U.S.

Stigma, cultural differences, language and translation, and healthcare deserts prevent AAPI immigrants from accessing necessary services, such as abortion. Additional clinics and health centers, improved language accessibility, and expanded access to health insurance (regardless of immigration status) are all options for lowering barriers to this care. It is important to remember that ICE activity impacts AAPI communities, too. ICE’s presence negatively affects the realization of reproductive justice; many might be fearful to access services outside their homes, many might worry about their naturalization process, or others may be stymied by criminalization and stigma.

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The Global Gag Rule, started by President Ronald Regan in 1984, prevented foreign NGOs from receiving U.S. family planning assistance if they performed, promoted, advocated for, counseled on, or referred patients for abortion. It has gone in and out of place since then, depending on who is in the White House. It was expanded during the first Trump administration to apply not only to family planning funding, but all of global health funding. Caitlin Horrigan, Senior Director of Global Advocacy at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Beirne Roose-Snyder, Senior Policy Fellow at the Council for Global Equality, sit down to talk with us about the new and purposefully broad expansion on an already-devastating rule.

The Global Gag Rule impacts the most marginalized—women and girls, Black and brown people, the LGBTQI+ community, those in humanitarian settings, those living rurally, people living with disabilities, and more. At the 2026 March for Life, JD Vance announced the policy, “Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance”, which includes three federal rules applying to grants and contracts coming from the State Department. It operationalizes and expands the existing global gag rule to all foreign assistance, to new actors (including new governments), and with new definitions. It also applies to those promoting “gender ideology” and “discriminatory equity ideology” or engagement in “unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion-related discrimination.” These rules are purposefully long and complicated to create less obvious legal challenges. This expansion lands on top of an already devastated global health landscape.

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It has officially been one year since the beginning of the second Trump term. Almost immediately, the administration dismantled global public health, including sexual and reproductive health. Gender equity and LGBTQI+ health and rights, especially transgender health and rights, have been consistently attacked. Jessica Mason Pieklo sits down to talk with us about the administration’s recent strategies of authoritarianism, and what to continue to watch for.

In January, the Supreme Court heard arguments to a case challenging Idaho’s and West Virginia’s ban on trans girls playing sports. At its core, the cases ask the legal question as to whether categorical sports bans based on gender identity violate the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act. With this month marking Roe v. Wade’s decision anniversary, fears continue to grow over access to mifepristone and telehealth. The concept of fetal personhood is being brought into legislative sessions all over the country, while birth control could be a new target.

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We are approximately one year into Trump 2.0, where the administration has dismantled the systems we have worked to build. Civil rights offices have been gutted, DEI programs paused or eliminated, data erased, and enforcement mechanisms present behind-the-scenes. Meanwhile, the decimation of USAID and the de-prioritization of global health have led to a radically different foreign policy architecture and the closure of health clinics, service disruption, and the shutdown of community organizations abroad. Gayatri Patel and Preston Mitchum, Senior Fellows with rePROs Fight Back, sit down to talk with us about attacks to LGBTQI+ rights and gender, and how these attacks intersect.

Attacks on gender equality have been front and center, as evidenced by the early release and adoption of Project 2025. This is, of course, exacerbated by attacking DEI and inclusion. From the federal to the state level, all-out assaults on gender equality, transgender health and rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights continues. Attacks on LGBTQI+ issues are insidiously persistent. This includes the restriction of access to gender affirming care, the banning of transgender people from school sports, and the stripping of inclusive terms from federal guidance. Black and brown LGBTQI+ people, especially those dealing with poverty, immigration systems, or disability, are disproportionately feeling the rollbacks in rights.

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If you're planning to have an abortion soon or you have had one in the past… if you’re feeling a strong emotion (or many of them) before or after receiving care… or if you are looking to support a friend, Becca Rea-Tucker’s (author, baker, and reproductive rights advocate) new book, The Abortion Companion: An Affirming Handbook for Your Choice and Your Journey, is a safe and supportive resource to learn more and have a safe space.

Becca wrote the Abortion Companion after her own abortion. Many pre-existing products for abortion contribute to stigma, but Becca’s book emphasizes that any feeling (including joy, sadness, relief, or a mix) is ok to feel. The book features self-compassion exercises, comfort tv and movie sections, conversation scripts, affirmations, and more. The book also offers a break from the day-to-day fight for abortion care, imagining a future where the world is unapologetically pro-abortion.

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America is facing a gender backlash—a backlash so swift and severe, it feels more like a whiplash. Right now, no group is more at risk than trans Americans. On his first day back in the White House, Trump signed a controversial executive order meant to deny trans identity and push transgender people out of public life. Since then, attacks on trans rights—trans existence—have become increasingly hostile and widespread. But even as many conservatives work overtime to focus the public's ire on trans people, it's clear that their attempt to enforce a strict gender binary could have much broader consequences. Consequences that will reach all Americans.

If you enjoy this drop, check out the season here.

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