Trump's First Year Was Terrible For Women — Here's Why

Almost exactly one year ago, Donald Trump was sworn-in as the 45th president of the United States. The day after his inauguration, millions of women took to the streets to protest the new president — among other things — and what they believed to be an agenda that would hurt women.

Turns out, their anxiety over Trump's future policies was not exactly unfounded.

In the first 12 months since Trump took office, his administration has swiftly undone years of progress for women. Everything has been on the chopping block in one way or another: women's healthcare, protections against workplace discrimination, efforts to close the gender wage gap, crucial aid to help women and girls across the globe, and much more.

Besides all the dangerous legislation and policies of the last year, the president has also gone out of his way to bring aboard extreme conservatives to everything ranging from his Cabinet and the Supreme Court to different federal agencies and the lower courts.

"This year has proved that the Trump administration has no interest in protecting women’s health and our basic freedoms, and if there was a way to give them anything below an F, I would," Kaylie Hanson-Long, the national communications director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, told Refinery29. "Just this week, Trump released an executive order that gives medical practitioners the license to discriminate against patients and turn a person in need of care away. From ripping healthcare away from millions of Americans, to attacking our essential birth control, Trump’s attacks on women’s health are actually putting people’s health, rights, and lives in real danger."

And even though some the worst fears have not become true (Roe v. Wade hasn't been overturned, same-sex marriage is still legal, not all anti-discrimination protections for women have been rolled back) it's been a tough year all-around.

We might not be Gilead yet (from the Handmaid's Tale), but the Trump administration is setting us back by generations. Ahead, a look at why President Trump's first year in office has been a disaster for women in the U.S. and abroad.