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Trump signs EO, backed by Melania Trump, establishing new WH women’s health task force and NIH division

Updated 2:06 PM ET · 1:20 PM ETConfirmed

Politics Desk

In Short: US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday establishing a White House Women's Health Task Force and a new women's health division at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a move backed by First Lady Melania Trump.

The executive order, signed during a Rose Garden ceremony, aims to bolster federal research into women's health issues, including maternal health, mental health, and endometriosis. It also mentions other health concerns such as Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, heart disease, and stroke.

According to ABC7 Los Angeles, the order calls for the NIH to create a new women's health division, while the White House will establish a task force to coordinate federal efforts on women's health.

Melania Trump, who helped shape the initiative, said the executive order would make progress on five objectives, calling it a 'transformative moment for women in America.'

','The executive order rescinds women's health initiatives from the prior administration, focusing instead on translating research into improved clinical care. However, the order does not include specific funding goals.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will lead the task force, according to Trump. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who recently completed treatment for breast cancer, also participated in the signing ceremony.

The initiative comes after a series of meetings the first lady had with federal health officials, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

Melania Trump outlined five pillars of women’s health innovation, emphasizing the need to serve women at every stage of life, from young girls to older women who deserve 'vitality, dignity, and independence.'

The executive order also emphasizes the use of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies to advance the understanding of how diseases affect the female body differently.

The first lady said advances in science and greater openness around once-taboo subjects create an opportunity to 'reinvent women’s healthcare.'

The task force will coordinate with various federal agencies and programs, according to Trump.

The initiative aims to strengthen federal coordination on women's health research and policy, according to www.nationpathindia.com.

The executive order establishes a new standard for women's health in America, according to Justthenews.

Background

What's confirmed

• "Previous generations fought for women's rights. Our generation will fight to discover the cures that will ensure a woman can live her life in health and to the fullest."
• "promote new research and really go after the understudied diseases affecting women."
• "Who the hell wouldn't have a women's health division?" he said, after recalling that he'd asked Melania Trump, "Are you sure they don't have that?" The executive order calls for targeting maternal health, mental health and endometriosis.
• "Beginning today we will change the reality of women's health," Melania Trump said.
• White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who recently completed treatment for breast cancer, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.
• First lady Melania Trump joined him for a signing ceremony in the Rose Garden and said the executive order will make progress on five objectives: "This is a transformative moment for women in America," the first lady said.
• President Donald Trump on Monday directed the federal government to bolster federal research into women's health, a move pushed by his wife, first lady Melania Trump.
• The order also rescinds women’s health initiatives from the prior administration, saying the new effort will focus on translating research into improved clinical care.
• “This is a transformative moment for women in America. Beginning today, we will change the reality of women’s health,” she said in the Rose Garden.
• Kennedy Jr. will lead the task force, according to Trump.
• Donald Trump said the task force will coordinate with various federal agencies and programs.
• Trump credited Melania with conceiving the initiative, saying she had made an “outstanding contribution” to the well-being of American children and families and was bringing “extraordinary leadership and skills” to improving women’s health.

What's still developing

• About 4 in 10 independent women supported Trump during the 2024 election against Democrat Kamala Harris and in the pre-presidency period, according to AP-NORC polls.
• Shifting back to women's health, the president expressed surprise that some of the order's requirements had not already been imposed.
• The president called it a "historic action" and praised the first lady's work.
• "Who the hell wouldn't have a women's health division. Melania said, 'They don't have it.'" The president said Americans will soon hear about "incredible things that we're doing" to get women the care they need, although he didn't offer specifics.
• First lady Melania Trump on Monday appeared with President Donald Trump to unveil the White House's women's health initiatives, which creates health division for them within the National Institutes of Health.
• “As Melania said, today we’re taking historic action to promote women’s health through all phases of life,” the president said.
• "She's accomplished so much," he said before pivoting into unscripted commentary on White House renovations, including the patio stone that now covers what was once the Rose Garden lawn.
• He called Wiles “a tremendous fighter” and said she cares deeply about improving women’s health.

Sources

• ABC7 Los Angeleslink
• CBS Newslink
• Justthenewslink
• KETVlink
• KOMOlink
• Oannlink
• WBAL-TVlink
• WPDElink
• WSYXlink
• Washingtonexaminerlink
• www.nationpathindia.comlink
• WarpBeat — background on Trump Signs Order Exempting Russia From Sanctions link
• WarpBeat — background on Trump Renames AI 'Super Intelligence' and Launches Task Force link
• NBC News — video link