Trump Admin Slashes Office Pushing Abortion and Gender Ideology

The Trump White House is moving to gut an office within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that has served as a primary vehicle for pushing gender ideology and abortion-related initiatives across federal agencies.

 

On October 10, around 30 staff members at the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) received reduction-in-force (RIF) notices, essentially putting the bulk of the office’s workforce on the sidelines, according to sources who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

 

These reductions follow repeated alerts from administration officials that personnel cuts might be necessary if Democrats persist in blocking efforts to restart government operations.

 

OPA describes its core goal as improving “reproductive health outcomes and adolescent health and wellbeing by supporting high-quality clinical services, evidence-based and innovative programs, rigorous research and evaluation,” this essentially means that it predominately functioned to promote leftist agendas.

 

In preparation for the October 1 shutdown deadline, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) instructed federal agencies to prepare RIF strategies for employees tied to unfunded programs or those misaligned with the administration’s objectives.

 

OPA was singled out due to its track record of supporting and financing groups that advocate for radical gender ideology and abortion.

 

The office’s main role involved managing Title X of the Public Health Service Act, which provides grants for a “broad range of acceptable and effective family planning methods and related preventive health services that include natural family planning methods, infertility services, and services for adolescents.”

 

In reality, however, OPA has placed growing emphasis on preventing pregnancies, the sources noted.

 

Although Title X law forbids using its funds directly for abortions, the former Biden administration reversed a policy that had prevented Title X recipients from offering abortion information or referrals, as per the Congressional Research Service. Today, most funded projects must supply such referrals upon client request, including for abortions.

 

America’s top abortion provider, Planned Parenthood and her affiliates, have pocketed millions in Title X dollars over time.

 

A rule set in October 2021 also bars Title X projects from mandating parental consent or notification when minors access services. Thankfully, Texas sued over this tule in 2024, prompting HHS to pause enforcement in the state.

 

During the Biden years, OPA incorporated staff linked to pro-abortion groups, and at least one holdover from that era was hit by the latest RIF, sources said.

 

The office under Biden also released guidance promoting “gender-affirming care” for youth as “crucial to overall health and well-being as it allows the child or adolescent to focus on social transitions and can increase their confidence while navigating the healthcare system.”

 

OPA funding has likewise flowed to entities that push gender ideology on young people and share explicit sexual materials, according to knowledgeable individuals. OMB Director Russ Vought, a longtime advocate for shrinking government, is now actively pursuing cuts to federal expenditures early in Trump’s new term.

 

In July, HHS put out guidance stating that recipients of OPA’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program cannot use federal money for content advancing gender ideology, LGBTQIA+ themes, or “anti-American ideologies.”

 

At present, there are just a handful of workers are left to handle OPA’s legally mandated duties.

 

From the start of Trump’s second term, the administration has worked to rein in the office, even floating a full elimination in its proposed 2026 budget.

 

“HHS under the Biden administration became a bloated bureaucracy, growing its budget by 38% and its workforce by 17%,” said Rich Danker, HHS assistant secretary for public affairs, in comments to the DCNF.

 

Will staff reductions stick? Only time will tell as a federal judge just issued a temporary halt to the administration’s broader plan to let go of thousands of workers during the shutdown.

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