Government website reproductiverights.gov appeared to be offline on the evening of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The site, launched in 2022 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of a public awareness campaign, contained information on access to abortion and reproductive health care and a Know-Your-Rights patient fact sheet.
“Reproductive health care, including access to birth control and safe and legal abortion care, is an essential part of your health and well-being,” a statement on the website read. “While Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion remains legal in many states, and other reproductive health care services remain protected by law.”
The site affirmed that most employer-based health plans and private health insurance plans are required to cover certain prescription birth control methods under the Affordable Care Act, which Trump has made calls to repeal. It also displayed a list of other services covered by most insurance plans, including breast and cervical cancer screenings, prenatal care and HIV screenings.
The site reiterated that while abortion legality varies by state, Mifepristone, in a regimen with misoprostol — otherwise known as a medication abortion — has been approved by the FDA and is safe and effective when used correctly.
It was not clear exactly when the site went down but it had been active as recently as Jan. 15.
CBS News has reached out to the Trump administration for clarification on why the site was down, but has not heard back.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was tapped by Trump to oversee the Department of Health and Human Services, has flip-flopped on his public stance regarding abortion. He said on Facebook last year that “abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks, and restricted thereafter,” but also wrote that “every abortion is a tragedy,” calling for the reduction of abortions “by better supporting mothers, parents and families.”
In 2023, he expressed to an NBC News reporter that he would support a national ban on abortion after the first three months of pregnancy, but then hours later a spokesperson for Kennedy said that he “does not support legislation banning abortion,” the outlet reported.
Trump, meanwhile, has said that abortion decisions should be left to the states and that he would veto a federal abortion ban while also repeatedly taking credit for the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, 12 states currently have a total abortion ban and in four states abortion is banned after six weeks, when most women are not yet aware they are pregnant. According to a CBS News poll, most Americans continue to favor abortion being legal in all or most cases.
