The Trump administration is now pursuing "the most serious effort in decades to curb contraception," said Mary Ziegler. The Department of Health and Human Services recently unveiled an overhaul to its Title X grant program that promotes "natural family planning" over the birth control pill, IUDs, and other means of contraception. The administration is also expected to strip all remaining federal funding from Planned Parenthood, a major provider of contraception. Opposing birth control should be "a political third rail," as 90% of Americans support widespread access. But President Trump is under pressure from the "unwieldy political coalition" of social conservatives, MAHA zealots, and anti-immigrant extremists who want Americans to have more children. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's MAHA movement claims that contraceptive pills and implants are "artificial" and unsafe. Instead, his department is now promoting fertility and pregnancy; for family planning, it recommends the "rhythm method" and unreliable tracking apps. Taking a hostile stance toward birth control helps Trump appease religious conservatives before the midterms. "Contraception has gone from being politically untouchable to a real target on the Right."
THE WEEK May 15, 2026
