A One-Two Punch from HHS

Flavored vapes get the okay, but ‘under-babied’ women better watch out.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made multiple headlines this week, starting with the on-again-off-again tenure of Dr. Marty Makary in his role as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner. The Wall Street Journal broke the story last weekend that President Donald Trump approved a plan to fire Makary, which seemed to be news to both. By Tuesday afternoon, Makary announced his resignation.

In particular, the FDA has drawn the ire of anti-abortion activists over the agency’s approach to mifepristone regulation, including its approval last year of a generic version of the drug. More recently, the FDA appeared to slow-walk its role in federal litigation that seeks to rescind telehealth rules for mifepristone nationwide. (Covered by The Contrarian last week, the Supreme Court stay on a recent Fifth Circuit ruling has been extended through at least Thursday.) A so-called “safety report” on mifepristone, commissioned by HHS, is not due to be issued by the FDA until the fall, keeping the issue out of the public eye in the leadup to the midterms (the timing, quite frankly, is a boon to Republicans).

(MarioGuti/iStock)

The real concern that appears to have been the final straw for the commissioner? Flavored vapes. Whereas the White House has been waging a campaign to appease tobacco donors by authorizing mint, tea, and spice-flavored e-cigarettes, in March, the FDA issued a memo saying that it would draw the line at fruit and candy flavors (always looking out for the kids). Yet somehow last week, blueberry and mango made it over the finish line.

Sweet enough to satisfy Big Tobacco? Time will tell. Even so, we all know chaos is Trump’s currency. FDA Deputy Commissioner Kyle Diamantas will lead the agency as interim until the next MAHA loyalist steps in.

[In all fairness, I must note that under Makary’s watch, the FDA accomplished a policy advance for which I have long advocated: removal of the inaccurate “black-box warning” on certain menopausal hormone treatments. The agency was reasonably transparent about its process and succeeded where prior administrations on both sides had not. Last week, I was part of a group that met with leaders there to address ongoing challenges for women accessing estradiol patches and was impressed by the agency’s commitment. You can read about the meeting at USA Today.]

Meanwhile, Mother’s Day enabled another one-two punch from HHS: the launch of moms.gov, a new website that serves as a one-stop-shop for the Trump administration’s pronatalist agenda, and a Washington Post op-ed, Mothers are America’s Strength, bylined by Melania Trump. Casting motherhood as the “foundation of American democracy,” the first lady argued for “a new American model that restores the honor of motherhood by encouraging all women to lead boldly at work while also making family the cornerstone of our national future.” No surprise, the op-ed put forth exactly zero policy reforms to support these outcomes. (But on the bright side, the piece is paywall free. Read it for the comments!)

A subsequent press conference featured a tour of the moms.gov site along with an announcement about newly available fertility employee benefits. Flanked by women — all of them looking a whole lot like the next-gen Gilead wives on The Testaments, right down to the matching light blue outfits — Trump talked up U.S. Rep. Katie Britt (R-AL): “I shouldn’t admit this, but the first time I really heard about the fertility was the Katie. 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.”

Not to be outdone in the category of words and phrases we could do without, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, announced that one in three Americans are now to be classified as under-babied. “What does ‘under-babied’ mean?” he queried. “That means that you either don’t have any children, or you have less children than you would normally want to have.”

As for the website itself, moms.gov is a far cry from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s assurance that it “delivers critical tools and support to help parents foster healthy pregnancies, strengthen young families, and create brighter futures for their children.” Among the features, financial resources consist of links to Trump Accounts for babies and fertility and weight management medication advice links to Trumprx.gov.

The most dangerous aspect is a prominent button smack in the center of the homepage that directs users to Option Line, an unregulated clinic referral network operated by Heartbeat International, a national organization and Christian ministry that requires affiliates to oppose abortion and contraception. Commonly known as crisis pregnancy centers, these facilities are not subject to basic licensing requirements or credentialing standards, and do not provide comprehensive, evidence-based — or even accurate — reproductive and maternal healthcare. Nor are most HIPAA-covered, meaning sensitive health information may not be protected. In fact, Abortion Every Day has reported for years on Heartbeat International’s use of Option Online as a data collection tool; as Jessica Valenti wrote, “We’re talking about names, addresses, marital status, menstruation dates — deeply personal information. Absolute nightmare shit.”)

Aesthetically, moms.gov makes the most insidious design choices. Rather than photos with visible faces, we see only decapitated bodies doing the business of procreating, gauzy tradwife-style. One example:

There’s nothing quite like coining a word like under-babied while peddling fruity vapes — all while gas prices are soaring, workplace benefits for parents are being rolled back, health insurance remains out of reach for millions, affordable housing is an oxymoron, and on and on. Such is the legacy of a single week of news out of our nation’s top federal health agency.

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf is executive director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at NYU School of Law. She also leads strategy and partnerships at Ms. Magazine.

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