Inappropriate Appropriations and Pronatalist Propaganda
Written by Brian Dixon, Senior Vice President for Governmental and Political Affairs, and Rylee Pachman, Stanback Government Affairs Fellow | Published: September 8, 2026
House Appropriations Committee approves FY 2027 foreign affairs bill
On April 28, the House Appropriations Committee approved the FY 2027 National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, which allots “not more than” $461 million for international family planning programs and prohibits funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The bill also codifies the Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance Act, Trump’s expanded Global Gag Rule.
Democrats on the committee proposed three amendments. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) offered an amendment to increase the funding allotted to family planning programs to the current level of $607.5 million, repeal the ban on funding to UNFPA, and replace the provision codifying the expanded Global Gag Rule with language that bars using funding for administrative purposes to implement it. Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) proposed an amendment to block the implementation of the DEI and “gender ideology” sections of the expanded Global Gag Rule. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) proposed an amendment to require the Government Accountability Office to investigate how many deaths the shutdown of USAID has caused. All three amendments failed on party line votes.
The full House passed the bill on July 15. It is unclear when, or whether, the Senate will take up the bill.
Trump-Vance administration debuts new pronatalist website
On Mother’s Day, the administration unveiled the new website moms.gov, supposedly created to provide resources to expecting parents; however, the site is little more than a destination for pronatalist propaganda.
The website’s pregnancy support section directs visitors to Option Line, operated by the anti-abortion group Heartbeat International. Option Line promotes crisis pregnancy centers, which use misinformation to dissuade women from getting an abortion and are known for distributing women’s personal data. A section offering adoption resources directs visitors to Focus on the Family, a right-wing, evangelical organization that urges people to donate to “save babies from abortion.”
Information on contraceptives is glaringly absent. Instead, fertility awareness-based family planning methods are featured as a path to pregnancy.
Moms.gov also perpetuates anti-vaccination propaganda. It ignores the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics to vaccinate all newborns for Hepatitis B, instead suggesting the vaccine only for infants born to mothers who test positive. The site promotes the debunked claim that acetaminophen causes ADHD and autism in babies if taken during pregnancy.
Congressman introduces new bill to protect federal workers’ reproductive freedom
On June 24, the fourth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that eliminated the constitutional right to safe, legal abortion, Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA) introduced the Federal Workforce Reproductive Rights Protection Act (H.R.9448). The bill prohibits federal agencies from moving their headquarters to states with restrictive abortion laws or requiring employees to transfer to such states. It also requires employers to cover transportation and paid leave for employees needing to travel out of state to access abortion, protects employee privacy, and prohibits retaliation regarding reproductive health decisions.
Rep. Walkinshaw said, “This bill protects public servants from being punished, pushed out, or put at risk because they need lawful reproductive healthcare.”
Trump decimates Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program
On June 26, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., canceled $68 million worth of grants under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP), which still had two years left in their five-year cycle. The Trump-Vance administration cited “misalignment with agency priority, specifically normalizing sexual activity for minors” as the reason for canceling the grants. Congress allotted funding to TPPP to establish programs that had been rigorously researched and proven effective in decreasing teen pregnancy and increasing healthier sexual behaviors.
Since the most recent peak in 1991, teen pregnancy rates have drastically declined in the US, although they are still higher than in other industrialized countries. In the first five years after TPPP was established in 2010, teen pregnancy rates dropped 35%. They have continued to reach record lows every year since.
Shockingly, the enormous success of this work may be the cause of right-wing opposition to it now. Marc Siegel, Senior Medical Analyst at Fox News, made illuminating remarks in April, after the CDC released its 2025 births data:
“We still have 3.6 million births a year. But the problem is teens and young adults from ages 15 to 19, the fertility rate is down 7%, and it’s down 70% over the last two decades, meaning we’re telling people that are young not to have babies, to wait until they’re in a more stable life situation, until they’re more financially secure, maybe they haven’t found the right partner.”
Katie Miller, wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, has come out against birth control, writing on social media:
“Since 2007, the teen birthrate has fallen 72%. Hormonal birth control isn’t just poison for women’s minds and bodies — it’s killing population growth. For the first time ever, birthrates for women in their late 30s have surpassed those in their early 20s. Our biological destiny is to have babies — not slave behind desks chasing careers while our civilization dies.”
Contact Brian Dixon: bdixon@popconnect.org