Things to Know After Week 1 of Trump 2

Donald Trump does Project 2025 (shocker)

Last week, we got our first Friday night news dump of the second Trump administration—likely the first of many.

First, Trump signed an executive order repealing two orders Joe Biden signed in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In practice, these orders didn’t do all that much, but among other things, they did lead to the Biden administration’s guidance on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), which has been at the center of an ongoing challenge to the full enforcement of Idaho’s abortion ban.

It has been widely expected that, once Trump took office, the Department of Justice would drop this legal challenge and look the other way while states enforce abortion bans that violate EMTALA. This executive order all but confirms that eventuality.

Trump also reinstated the global gag rule, a policy that bans foreign NGOs that receive U.S. international aid funds from conducting any abortion referrals, counseling, or advocacy.

Every Republican president since Reagan has enacted this policy, but during his first term, Trump expanded it in unprecedented ways. It’s this expanded version that he reinstated, and along with a 90-day pause on all foreign aid, a withdrawal from the World Health Organization, and a likely withdrawal from the United Nations Population Fund, Trump appears to be following Project 2025 word for word. That has experts concerned that more limits are coming—specifically, broad limits on speech about reproductive and sexual health, on the part of government agencies and NGOs alike. You can learn more in my story about the gag rule and what’s likely next.

Trump pardons domestic terrorists

You probably heard that Trump pardoned a bunch of people who were involved in the January 6 Capitol attack. Last week, he also pardoned numerous people convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act—though the exact number of pardons is curiously unclear.

At least ten people convicted of invading a Washington, D.C. abortion clinic in 2020—an event described in this story I wrote for ELLE in 2022—were pardoned. Among them is Lauren Handy, who was found to be in possession of five sets of fetal remains when she was arrested in 2022. Handy and many of the others involved in this blockade were repeat FACE Act violators, meaning they faced more stringent penalties.

Trump called them peaceful protesters. They weren’t—one healthcare worker was injured during the clinic invasion and a pregnant patient was prevented from entering the building while experiencing contractions. Plus, the anti-abortion movement has killed 11 people since the 1990s. When clinic invasions happen, workers and patients rightfully worry their lives are in danger.

I’ve reported a lot on this type of violence over the years. I think the most important things to understand about it are that the anti-abortion movement has deep ties to the broader fascist movement in the U.S.—including the groups that stoked the insurrection—and that violence at clinics increased during the first Trump adminstration and will likely increase again now.

More repro org turmoil

Shortly before Trump’s inauguration, I reported exclusively that the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) had decided not to renew the contract of its executive director, Oriaku Njoku.

NNAF has ballooned in size and budget post-Dobbs, and I’ve heard a lot about growing pains from the leaders of local abortion funds, many of whom have become increasingly frustrated with the national organization—particularly since cuts from other national organizations put increased strain on local funds starting over the summer.

Njoku is a well-liked, well-respected member of the reproductive justice movement and a longtime abortion fund leader. My sources said the problem was that she had the right ideas, but wasn’t able to push back against organizational inertia effectively enough.

Njoku “might have been the head of the org, but they weren’t the neck,” one source told me.

Repro Report will always be free, but to support my work, consider upgrading to a paid subscripton.