logo
Who would want to have babies under a Trump administration? Not me.

Who would want to have babies under a Trump administration? Not me.

Yahoo06-06-2025
Despite declarations that something needs to be done about the declining birth rate in the United States, neither President Donald Trump nor the Republican Party has the desire to protect pregnant people. If they did, the Trump administration wouldn't have made its latest move to restrict abortion nationwide.
On Tuesday, June 3, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rescinded a Biden-era policy that directed hospitals to provide emergency abortions if it was needed to stabilize a pregnant patient. The guidance and communications on it apparently 'do not reflect the policy of this Administration.'
I, like many people who support abortion rights, know what this will lead to. It means more pregnant people will die.
Does that reflect the policy of the administration?
The Biden policy was implemented in 2022, following the fall of Roe v. Wade, and argued that hospitals receiving Medicare funding had to comply with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA).
The former administration argued that this included providing emergency abortions when they were needed to stabilize a patient, even in states that had severe abortion restrictions.
Opinion: A brain dead pregnant Georgia woman is a horror story. It's Republicans' fault.
This wasn't entirely a surprise. In 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that Texas could ban virtually all abortions in the state, including abortions that would have occurred under the old EMTALA guidelines.
Still, it's terrifying to see this crucial policy eliminated.
It's already dangerous to be pregnant in the United States. Our maternal mortality rate is much higher than in other wealthy countries. Same with our infant mortality rate. This will only exacerbate these tragedies.
In states with abortion bans, the risks are even greater. A study from the Gender Equity Policy Institute found that people living in states with abortion bans were twice as likely to die during or shortly after childbirth. This is also backed by anecdotal evidence, including the 2022 deaths of two women in Georgia after the state passed a six-week ban.
A different study found that infant mortality rates increased in states with severe restrictions on abortion, including an increase in deaths due to congenital anomalies.
The Trump administration does not care about what is medically necessary to save someone's life. They don't care about whether the children supposedly saved by rescinding this policy will grow up without their mother. They care about their perceived moral superiority. They care about controlling women.
Why would anybody want to have a child under that Republican way of thinking?
Opinion: We're worrying about the wrong thing. Low birth rate isn't the crisis: Child care is.
I want to say I'm surprised that the Trump administration would allow women in need of emergency care to die.
Yet this is clearly aligned with the Republican stance on abortion, just like it's aligned with the actions that the party has taken to make it harder for women to access necessary care.
Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.
Whether you like it or not, abortion is a necessary part of health care. It saves lives. Alexis McGill Johnson, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, laid it out plainly.
'Women have died because they couldn't get the lifesaving abortion care they needed,' she said in a statement. 'The Trump administration is willing to let pregnant people die, and that is exactly what we can expect."
Again, this is the administration that wants young women like me to have children and improve the country's birth rate. This is an administration that claims to care about women and children. I know I wouldn't want to have a child while Trump continues to make it unsafe to be pregnant and give birth.
I hate that this is the reality.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter, @sara__pequeno
You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump just made healthcare more dangerous for pregnant women | Opinion
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

'Diaper Diplomacy': YouTube channel features AI baby versions of politicians
'Diaper Diplomacy': YouTube channel features AI baby versions of politicians

Yahoo

time24 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

'Diaper Diplomacy': YouTube channel features AI baby versions of politicians

Move over E*TRADE Baby — a new generation of talking tykes is going viral, but instead of stock quotes, they're politicians discussing foreign policy, the economy and bickering in congressional committee hearings. Making its debut on YouTube, Diaper Diplomacy videos use artificial intelligence software to transform some of the nation's most well-known political figures, such as President Donald Trump and U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), into irritable infants while using the actual audio from the interviews or press conferences. With more than 67,000 subscribers and over 40 videos, the channel has garnered millions of views and a loyal following through its recreations of viral political moments, starring "babyfied" politicians of both parties. Diaper Diplomacy has recreated videos of a variety of notable figures in American politics, ranging from Trump visiting a construction site with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez testifying before Congress, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., explaining how he discovered and placed a dead bear cub in his car - among others. "Trigger Warning (for everyone): I roast both sides," according to the channel description, "Because let's be honest —our politicians act like toddlers, and it's time someone put them back in time-out." While some videos are for "members only," the channel's creator has widely shared numerous videos as fundraisers for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, allowing "babies to help other babies."USA TODAY has contacted the White House and Booker for comment. But who runs Diaper Diplomacy? According to a bio on "Buy Me a Coffee," Diaper Diplomacy is run by a "regular guy" who is chasing his dreams as a video creator. "[I am] trying to keep my head above water while raising three kids — including a 10-week-old who seems to think diapers grow on trees. If one of my videos gave you a laugh, I'd be super grateful for your support," the bio says. "Every little bit helps me keep making more content (and helps keep my little dude stocked up on diapers)." When recently asked by a viewer in the comments section whether the channel had become a full-time gig, the response was that it's been a "wild ride," and, hopefully, "getting close." "It's not paying all the bills yet, I've got a lot of mouths to feed and actual diapers to buy, but I think within a few months it can," was the response. "We'll see." The channel also touts video-specific merchandise, membership-only perks and access to "Diaper Doppelgänger GTP," the AI tool used to "babify" politicians on both sides of the aisle for $9.95. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is 'Diaper Diplomacy?' AI videos of baby politicians go viral

Candace Owens claims Trump warned her off specious Brigitte Macron trans claim: ‘I've seen her up close'
Candace Owens claims Trump warned her off specious Brigitte Macron trans claim: ‘I've seen her up close'

Yahoo

time24 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Candace Owens claims Trump warned her off specious Brigitte Macron trans claim: ‘I've seen her up close'

Right-wing podcaster Candace Owens claims President Donald Trump personally called her to ask her to stop questioning the gender of Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France. Speaking with Tucker Carlson on his podcast, Owens, who is being sued by the Macrons for pursuing the story — which is based on a debunked conspiracy theory — said she was called by Trump in February, shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron visited the White House. Owens said the initial request to stop talking about the French first lady came from someone 'pretty high up' in the White House. She said she found the demand insulting and refused to comply. Trump later phoned Owens directly about the issue, she told Carlson, saying that the president told her Macron had pulled him aside to ask if he knew Owens. Owens said she was shocked by the request and stated that Trump had been confused as to why he was being asked to intervene. 'Emmanuel Macron personally flew to D.C. and asked Trump to ask me to shut up, to just stop speaking about his wife,' she told Carlson. 'He sounded very confused,' she claimed of Trump. 'He said he was very confused when the leader of France took him aside during negotiations for Ukraine and Russia to inquire about whether or not he knew Candace Owens.' Owens first spoke about the call from the president on her podcast, Becoming Brigitte, an eight-part documentary-style production about France's first lady. She said that Trump was very flattering toward her. 'You must be a very powerful person, Candace,' Owens said Trump had told her, before adding that her claims were distressing to Macron's wife. 'She's old and this is really, really impacting her,' she said the president had said. Trump then added: 'I saw her up close and she looks like a woman to me, I had dinner with her at the top of the Eiffel Tower.' Owens said she replied: 'Respectfully, Mr. President, it's not my fault that he married somebody with a penis,' repeating the type of false claim that has drawn the ire of the Macrons. Trump allegedly countered that they were working to end the war in Ukraine, and it would be helpful if she stopped questioning the gender of Macron's wife. Owens said she agreed to dial back on pushing the story for a while but would not agree to anything more than that. Last month, the Macrons filed a defamation lawsuit against Owens over the far-right influencer's 'relentless and unjustified smear campaign' falsely accusing Brigitte of being born a man. The 219-page defamation complaint, filed in Delaware state court, accuses Owens of proliferating 'demonstrably false' claims across her platforms, including in an eight-part podcast and on social media, designed to feed a 'frenzied fan base' in 'pursuit of fame'. 'These lies have caused tremendous damage to the Macrons,' according to the lawsuit, which names Owens as well as her business entities, which are incorporated in Delaware. The false claims have subjected the Macrons to a 'campaign of global humiliation, turning their lives into fodder for profit-driven lies,' the complaint says. 'Owens has dissected their appearance, their marriage, their friends, their family, and their personal history — twisting it all into a grotesque narrative designed to inflame and degrade,' the complaint alleges. 'The result is relentless bullying on a worldwide scale. Every time the Macrons leave their home, they do so knowing that countless people have heard, and many believe, these vile fabrications. It is invasive, dehumanizing, and deeply unjust.' The podcaster doubled down after the lawsuit was filed, outrageously claiming that Brigitte Macron's death would be faked before the case reached the discovery phase, claiming that the hypothetical staged killing of Macron would shut down all discussion 'about her being a man anymore.' Brigitte Macron was previously awarded $9,149 in damages last year after two other far-right influencers falsely accused her of being a transgender woman. In that case, Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey were ordered to pay damages to France's first lady as well as her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, after the women amplified bogus claims that Brigitte Macron had never existed and that her brother had changed gender and assumed that identity. For years, baseless conspiracy theories have proliferated across social media accusing prominent women — from Former First Lady Michelle Obama to Taylor Swift — of secretly being transgender, so-called 'transvestigations' that thread anti-trans rhetoric into a web of far-right conspiracy theories. The Macrons' lengthy complaint in Delaware connects the case to Owens's long history of far-right conspiracy theories — including debunked antisemitic tropes and attempts to minimize the Holocaust — to her attacks against the French first lady, which Owens has monetized on her YouTube channel, garnering millions of views. With additional reporting from Alex Woodward Solve the daily Crossword

Marjorie Taylor Greene Signals Potential Split From GOP
Marjorie Taylor Greene Signals Potential Split From GOP

Time​ Magazine

time24 minutes ago

  • Time​ Magazine

Marjorie Taylor Greene Signals Potential Split From GOP

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has historically been closely aligned with President Donald Trump's MAGA movement, is proclaiming her discontent with the current trajectory of the Republican Party. 'I don't know what the hell happened with the Republican Party,' Greene told the Daily Mail in an interview published over the weekend. 'But I'll tell you one thing, the course that it's on, I don't want to have anything to do with it, and I, I just don't care anymore.' While Greene said that she is still loyal to Trump, she told the outlet that she thinks the party 'has turned its back on America First and the workers and just regular Americans.' On Monday, the Georgia lawmaker appeared to criticize the Trump Administration's handling of various issues on social media. In one post, she included an image that said 'number of arrests' and listed several incidents or events—including an apparent reference to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, 'pedophile arrests' related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the '2020 election'—with the number zero next to each one. Greene captioned the post, 'Don't talk about it if you aren't going to do it.' In another post the same day, she noted that 'our Republican controlled Congress is no where near completing our appropriations bills' ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline, and that lawmakers are on recess until Sept. 2. 'The American people pay ALL the taxes and deserve their representatives to do our jobs and put Americans needs and interests FIRST,' she wrote. Greene has made a handful of other critical comments toward her fellow Republican lawmakers or the Trump Administration in recent weeks. On July 28, Greene became the first Republican in Congress to call the situation in Gaza a 'genocide,' taking the step in a post denouncing what she called an 'awful statement' from her Republican colleague Rep. Randy Fine of Florida regarding the conflict. Earlier that month, she criticized the Trump Administration's handling of files related to Epstein's case, calling it 'a red line that it crosses for many people.' Both issues have been the subject of broader tensions within the Republican Party, as deepening divides have emerged between lawmakers over the conflict in Gaza and as the Trump Administration has faced fierce backlash from the President's MAGA base over Epstein. Polling has also suggested other trouble for Trump and congressional Republicans. The President hit the lowest approval rating of his second term late last month as he lost support from Independents. And the massive tax and spending bill the GOP passed earlier in July—a signature piece of Trump's agenda—appears to be the most unpopular piece of major legislation in decades. In her interview with the Daily Mail, Greene said she wants to stop foreign aid, cut down on government spending via the Department of Government Efficiency, and reign in the national debt. The Georgia lawmaker also told the outlet that she thinks Republican women 'are really sick and tired of the way men treat' them. She said that Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, whose nomination to serve as the U.S. representative at the United Nations was pulled by the Trump Administration earlier this year, 'got shafted.' Greene didn't blame the President specifically for the move, but rather 'the people in the White House.' She called it 'weird' that Mike Waltz was then tapped for the role, being reassigned from his position as National Security Adviser, even after The Atlantic revealed that he had apparently added its editor in chief to a private Signal group chat that was being used to discuss sensitive military operations. 'How does he get awarded after 'Signalgate'?' Greene told the Daily Mail. 'I don't know if the Republican Party is leaving me, or if I'm kind of not relating to Republican Party as much anymore,' she said. 'I don't know which one it is.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store