President Donald Trump on Monday moved to repair strained relations with anti-abortion groups, unveiling a slate of fertility, childcare, and maternal health initiatives after weeks of criticism from anti-abortion leaders who argued his administration has not done enough to restrict abortion access.
The tension underscores a political challenge for Trump before November’s midterm elections: keeping the Republican Party’s anti-abortion base energized without alienating women voters.
Flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, and Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) in the Oval Office, Trump on Monday announced his administration’s proposal for employers to provide more fertility benefits to their employees as part of their respective healthcare insurance packages. Trump also announced a website for new and expectant parents, Moms.gov, that also directs them to crisis pregnancy centers without abortion services.
“Today, I am pleased to announce that the Department of Labor is issuing a new rule to formally create a fertility benefit option for employers that can be offered to all employees outside of their normal health insurance plan,” Trump told reporters. “This is a new benefit or an option that will be a major help for millions of American moms that will result in more beautiful American babies.”
Trump on Monday additionally announced “groundbreaking” childcare reforms to improve federal programs such as Head Start and the Childcare Development Fund, so parents have “maximum options at the lowest cost.”
Monday’s maternal health event came one day after Mother’s Day. It also comes amid criticism of Trump from the likes of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser, who has argued the president’s strategy of delegating abortion regulation to the states “clearly does not work.”
SBA Pro-Life has specifically criticized Trump’s handling of the abortion drug mifepristone, arguing the administration has not aggressively fought efforts to restrict the pill as it continues to be shipped across state lines. That criticism has intensified in the wake of Louisiana v. FDA, the case currently before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on Monday announced it was pausing a lower court’s decision in that case to prohibit the mail distribution of mifepristone for three more days.
Last week, SBA Pro-Life also demanded Trump fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary after he told the Wall Street Journal he was indifferent to additional mifepristone restrictions.
Critics of the administration argue the FDA is slow-walking a safety review of the drug because of the political fallout Republicans faced after the repeal of Roe v. Wade and Democrats’ success in attacking GOP abortion policies in the 2022 midterm elections.
That criticism prompted Trump to meet with Dannenfelser last Friday, with SBA Pro-Life spokeswoman Kelsey Pritchard describing the pair’s sit-down as “very constructive.”
SBA Pro-Life had earlier criticized Trump for encouraging Republicans last year to be “flexible” regarding the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal funding from being spent on abortion, as they negotiated with Democrats over pandemic-era Obamacare insurance tax credits.
But SBA Pro-Life on Monday welcomed Trump’s announcements, especially the Moms.gov website, saying “women deserve to know they are not alone and that real support exists before, during, and after pregnancy.”
“At SBA, we fight for the unborn as much as we advocate for a culture of life that supports American women,” the group wrote on social media.
Rebekah Gantner, Americans United for Life’s government affairs and public policy manager, similarly praised Monday’s announcements but also called on Trump to “directly confront the issue of mail-order abortion.”
“Letting abortion pills continue to be shipped directly to women in their homes undermines the administration’s own effort to support women in unexpected pregnancies,” Gantner told the Washington Examiner.
Trump on Monday acknowledged the complexity of abortion politics when asked by a reporter whether Congress should defund Planned Parenthood for another year when his One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s authorization to do so expires on July 4.
“We’ve been very good for the people that want [Planned Parenthood to be defunded], for the people that are here, and we’ll see how that goes,” he said. “It’s been a very thorny issue. It’s all under negotiation right now.”
Trump also used the opportunity on Monday to promote his record for women and families, from his OBBBA tax cuts, his TrumpRX.org portal for discounted prescription drugs, and his “Trump Accounts,” tax-advantaged savings accounts for U.S. children.
“The first time I really heard about the fertility was through Katie,” Trump said of Britt, the senator. “She said, ‘Sir, we have to do something.’ And I’m a quick study. So I learned everything there is to learn in about three, four minutes, and I became the father of fertility.”
Regardless of his rhetoric, Trump’s support among women has dropped from 43% shortly after his inauguration last year to 31% last week, according to The Economist and YouGov polling.
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“The Trump administration has gutted access to healthcare, including sexual and reproductive health care, for mothers and families across the country,” Sophie Vaughan, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Action Fund, told the Washington Examiner. “This new website is a wolf in sheep’s clothing — touting care while deceptively leading people to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers, the majority of which are not actual medical clinics and which try to stop people from getting abortion care rather than providing essential health services.”
Vaughan did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner‘s inquiries regarding Trump’s Monday announcement concerning fertility benefits.