Taking Action on Capitol Hill and Online

The months since Donald Trump was inaugurated have felt like decades, given how much damage he has done since re-taking office. While it has been hard to watch the freezing of foreign aid, the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the slashing of family planning and reproductive health care, including to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), we have been heartened by the progressive activist commitment to fighting back (including from our members and supporters)!

Nearly immediately upon taking office, Trump issued a 90-day freeze across all types of foreign aid (which was later extended by 30 days), with limited exceptions for programs deemed “life-saving.” With the help of Elon Musk and his ill-intentioned Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Trump set out to hack apart USAID, which has for the last 60 years led most of the humanitarian, democracy building, and global health programs around the world.

Then, on February 26, UNFPA was notified that the US had terminated all its grants, totaling $377 million. This loss of US support is a tremendous blow to UNFPA’s lifesaving maternal and child health, family planning, and humanitarian assistance programs.

In addition to their sinister work decimating global health, Trump and his congressional Republican enablers have also set their sights on crushing access to reproductive health care here in the US. As of writing, 16 Title X (ten) grantees, including all nine of the nation’s Planned Parenthood affiliates, have been informed that their grants are being temporarily withheld. Up to 834,000 low-income Americans who rely on Title X are at risk of losing their family planning and reproductive health care. We can only assume that the administration will soon find a way to make these cuts permanent.

On the ground

We’ve been busy this spring, attending rallies to resist the administration’s heinous actions. Here’s a round-up:

• February 5: We protested with thousands on Capitol Hill at the Save USAID rally.
• March 12: We joined with pro-choice and pro-democracy organizations at the Save Our Health Care rally against cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and Planned Parenthood.
• March 31: We stood with trans activists at a rally to commemorate the National Trans Day of Visibility.
• April 2: We joined Planned Parenthood and other reproductive rights groups in front of the Supreme Court to rally during oral arguments for Medina v. Planned Parenthood of the South Atlantic, a case challenging South Carolina’s attempt to block Planned Parenthood as a Medicaid provider in the state.

Digital activism

In addition to gathering in person, we have engaged our supporters with a variety of digital actions. In advance of confirmation hearings for several of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, we shared a “Stop These Nominees” email action, which over 500 people used as an opportunity to contact their senators.

Over 700 of our supporters have contacted their representatives in the House, asking them to co-sponsor Rep. Chrissy Houlahan’s (D-PA) Support UNFPA Funding Act (H.R.2439), which currently has 47 co-sponsors (all Democrats).

We launched Repro Rundown, a biweekly newsletter, in early April for our most engaged activists, and are now sharing it with our larger engaged list of donors and activists. If you’re on our email list, keep an eye on your inbox!

Welcome Back, Lauren!

We are thrilled to welcome Lauren Salmiery back to Population Connection as our National Field Director! Lauren worked with us for just over six years, from 2015–2022, in various roles in our Advocacy program, where she notably helped us build and launch the #Fight4HER campaign — our most successful grassroots effort to date.

After Lauren left Population Connection for new adventures in January 2022, she spent eight months consulting for the Veteran’s Health Administration. She then served as a Senior Communications Advisor for USAID, where she supported critical programming from Haiti to Tajikistan. At the end of January, Lauren — along with many of her equally talented colleagues — was laid off from USAID by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

We reconnected with Lauren after she was “DOGE-d,” as she puts it, and were fortunate that circumstances aligned for her to come back to work with us. In her first few months back as National Field Director, Lauren has contributed thoughtful insights toward our strategic planning for the next phase of the #Fight4HER campaign, creative ways to engage our group of supporters, and day-to-day talent and energy as a team leader.

We’re so grateful to have Lauren back with us, and look forward to our work ahead!

Rebecca Harrington, rharrington@popconnect.org