Trump's First 100 Days In Office Were A Disaster For Women

While on the campaign trail, President Trump said "there's nobody that has more respect for women" than him. But now, three months into his presidency, it's clearer than ever that his policies don't protect women. Trump completely failed women in his first 100 days, on everything from choosing a new Supreme Court judge to slashing global health funding.

Of course, this doesn't come as a surprise. Before he even took office, tapes surfaced of Trump boasting that he just starts kissing and grabbing women by the genitals without consent because "when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."

Although his daughter Ivanka positions herself as an adviser on women's issues, none of the Trump administration's policies or goals reflect a commitment to helping women or fostering equality. In fact, the administration's policies thus far reflect exactly the opposite.

"The administration’s actions fly in the face of the millions of Americans who have rallied, marched, and called to support healthcare access, including a woman’s constitutional right to access abortion care," read a NARAL Pro-Choice America press release about Trump's first 100 days. "The fact that anti-choice groups have literally been standing side-by-side with Trump the entire time should be evidence enough of this misogynist administration’s misplaced priorities."

Let's take a walk through Trump's first 100 days in office and look at the myriad ways President Trump has been a nightmare for women.

In his first week leading the country, President Trump signed an executive order reinstating the Reagan-era global gag rule that prohibits federal funding for international organizations offering abortions. President Bill Clinton trashed the rule, but Trump decided USAID shouldn't give money to non-governmental organizations that so much as counsel women on the option of abortion — or NGOs that provide abortions in cases other than rape, incest, or danger to the mother's life. These organizations provide reproductive health care to poor women around the world.

Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, following through on his campaign promise to appoint judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade. Gorsuch, like his predecessor on the bench, Antonin Scalia, interprets the law exactly as it's written, leaving little room for interpretation, and he could be the most conservative judge on the Supreme Court now, according to The Washington Post.

The addition of Gorsuch alone (he was confirmed by the Senate earlier this month) isn't enough to overturn Roe v. Wade, as the court is essentially back to where it was with Scalia. But, if the court were to lose a more liberal judge, and if Trump replaced that person with someone similar to Gorsuch, the court would lean much more to the right.

President Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Tom Price, consistently voted for anti-choice legislation while a House representative. The Georgian congressman also backed Republicans' replacement for Obamacare, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), claiming it's "so much better" (we'll explain why it's not below).

One of Trump's biggest campaign promises was to replace Obamacare, and his party came up with the AHCA to do just that. Trump fully supported the AHCA and is still pushing Congress to pass it even after it didn't have enough votes the first time. The original bill aimed to keep funding from organizations that provide abortions (i.e. Planned Parenthood) and forced victims of domestic abuse to file taxes with their spouse in order to receive a tax credit.

After it failed, an amendment was introduced that would allow states granted limited waivers to scrap certain essential health benefits (including mental health services, prescription drugs, and pregnancy, maternity, and newborn care) and charge more for preexisting conditions. Trump and the GOP are still trying to keep their harmful health care bill alive.

On March 27, President Trump signed an executive order taking back Obama's Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order. The now-defunct measure prohibited companies from getting federal contracts if they violated wage, labor, or workplace safety laws, but most importantly for women, it forced companies to be transparent with employees' paychecks and to ditch arbitration clauses for sexual harassment and sexual assault allegations.

The State Department announced it would stop funding the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), which provides reproductive healthcare to women around the world. In a letter to U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, the Trump administration claimed it was cutting funding from the organization because it "supports, or participates in the management of, a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization." However, the UNPF maintains that it doesn't offer or even promote abortions, but the organization does offer services to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, prevent unwanted pregnancies, and help women have healthy pregnancies.

Right before Obama left office, he prohibited states from withholding federal Title X family planning money from health clinics that provide abortion procedures, but Trump quickly moved to reverse the measure. After the House approved the reversal in February, Vice President Mike Pence had to break a tie in the Senate after two Republicans voted against it. Trump's signature gave individual states the ability to keep family planning funds that pay for services such as birth control from certain clinics.

With the UNPF already defunded, Trump's proposed budget would cut money going to developing countries even more. According to documents obtained by Foreign Policy earlier this week, he wants to merge USAID with the State Department and slash its funding by about a third.

"Global health funding helps support HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, maternal and child health, and Zika programs worldwide, among other things, saving millions of lives and increasing the stability and security of our planet," Latanya Mapp Frett, executive director of Planned Parenthood Global, said in a statement sent to Refinery29. "If this administration were serious about investing in women, children, and families here in the U.S. and globally, they would be increasing programs meant to fight deadly diseases and public health epidemics — not eliminating them."

The same budget proposal shows that Trump also plans to eliminate the Office of Global Women's Issues, as its $8.25 million budget would be cut by 100%. The office, created by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, resides within the State Department and works to "promote the rights and empowerment of women and girls through U.S. foreign policy," according to its website.

Women both in the U.S. and abroad have already been negatively affected by Trump's presidency. Of course, pretty much everything the president does — from banning immigrants from specific Muslim countries to halting U.S. efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions — affects women in some way, so this is far from a definitive list.

Rather than letting this push you into a deep depression (though please feel free to wallow for a few minutes), let this be a reminder why it's so crucial to get involved in politics on a national, state, and local level. The decisions made in Washington D.C. certainly have an impact on your life, but state and local legislation is often more pertinent and easier to influence from home. There's always something you can do to help further pro-women policies or support organizations already working toward that goal.