White House unveils executive order to boost women's health

The Biden administration is rolling out an executive order to strengthen women’s health research standards across federal agencies and prioritize its funding in an effort to close the gap on long-standing disparities.

As part of the order, the National Science Foundation and Department of Health and Human Services are instructed to research ways to use artificial intelligence toward advancing women’s health research. It also directs the HHS to expand data collection on women’s midlife health and launch an agenda that can guide investments toward menopause-related research.

Women’s health research has faced disparities for decades, from funding to trials. Women are historically underrepresented in clinical and research trials. A 2021 study in the Journal of Women’s Health concluded that the National Institutes of Health’s funding pattern favors males in nearly three-quarters of the cases where a disease primarily afflicts one gender.

“While we’ve made tremendous progress in the last few decades, from revolutionary discoveries in certain disorders affecting women, to increasing the number of women enrolled in clinical trials, we still know too little about how to effectively prevent, diagnose, and treat a wide array of health conditions,” said Carolyn Mazure, chair of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research.

The White House has proposed $12 billion to create a women’s health research fund at the NIH and establish a national network of women’s research centers. President Joe Biden previously referred to the funding as part of his self-proclaimed “unity agenda,” which is intended to gather support from both sides of the aisle.

It’s uncertain whether the funding, part of the president’s broader $7.3 trillion budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year, will be approved by Congress.

“As we work with Congress to secure these investments, we’re taking action where we can to advance women’s health research,” Jennifer Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said in a briefing on Sunday.

Menopause Research

The executive order will also instruct the Defense Department and Veterans Affairs Department to study and improve the treatment of menopause for women in the military and veterans.

Meanwhile, the NIH will invest $200 million toward interdisciplinary research, such as the impact of menopause on heart, bone and brain health beginning in fiscal 2025.

The executive order is intended to address all diseases that affect women, and doesn’t specifically target in-vitro fertilization or other forms of reproductive health, according to a senior administration official.

Women’s reproductive health has been a focal point in campaigns and on ballots since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Voters in Republican-leaning Ohio and swing-state Michigan enshrined abortion access in their state constitutions during recent elections.

Democrats have made reproductive rights a central issue in their campaigns ahead of the November elections. Vice President Kamala Harris visited a women’s health clinic where abortions are performed, as well as other services, in Minneapolis last week. The trip signaled the administration’s focus on women’s reproductive rights as Harris embarks on a “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour.

Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has expressed his support of a 16-week abortion ban in private conversations to allies.

Trump said Sunday he would make a public decision “pretty soon” on what his campaign’s stance on abortion would be. His stance would include the “three exceptions,” he said, likely referring to allowing abortion in cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the patient.

“You have to go with your heart,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News. “But beyond that, you also have to get elected.”