President Trump signed an executive order on Monday in the White House Rose Garden. It creates a Women's Health Division at the National Institutes of Health and a White House Women's Health Task Force. NIH has 90 days to set up the division. The order names conditions like heart disease, Alzheimer's, endometriosis, infertility and menopause. The new division will work alongside NIH's Office of Research on Women's Health, which has existed since 1990. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles will lead the task force. The order sets no funding amount. It also revokes former President Joe Biden's 2024 order and a 2023 memo on women's health research. First Lady Melania Trump pushed for the order. She added her own signature after her husband signed. Her signature has no legal weight. The ceremony came about two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterms.

Women's Health Has Been Ignored for Too Long

The White House says women's diseases have gone understudied, and the new division finally puts someone in charge of fixing that.

Women's diseases don't get enough study. Trump said "many diseases and conditions that disproportionately affect women remain chronically understudied." News coverage of the order cited studies that back him up. A 2025 review found women face a higher risk of bad drug reactions and get less effective treatment for chronic pain.

The first lady wants more money for women's diseases. Melania Trump called the signing "a transformative moment for women in America." She laid out five goals. She wants to steer research funding toward conditions that hit women hardest, use AI to speed up discoveries, and get new treatments to women faster. She also wants to make those treatments affordable and cut the stigma around talking about women's health. "Beginning today, we will change the reality of women's health," she said.

Trump says the idea is obvious. He called the order a "historic action" and credited the first lady with the idea. "Who the hell wouldn't have a women's health division?" he asked. White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster said the task force will "close critical research gaps."

But the Same Administration Cut Women's Health Programs

Critics say the order adds no money, and it comes after cuts to the programs women rely on.

The order comes with no new money. Dorianne Mason is a senior director at the National Women's Law Center. She called out "the blatant hypocrisy of this unfunded order." She said it's "an attempt to change the headlines, not women's lives." Her group pointed to the Medicaid cuts in last year's budget law. Medicaid covers about 39 million low-income women, according to the health research group KFF.

Fewer NIH projects mentioned women last year. In April, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) pressed Kennedy at a Senate hearing. She cited a Washington Post report that NIH-funded projects using the word "women" fell 31% in 2025. She said canceling diversity-related grants "has resulted in less research aimed at women's health." Scientists had warned that grant reviews were flagging the word "women" itself.

Trump's team also cut staff and revoked Biden's plans. The administration downsized the federal health workforce. It has laid off thousands of NIH employees, Al Jazeera reports. The Biden directives Trump just revoked had helped secure nearly $1 billion for women's health research, Common Dreams reported.

Some critics say women are paying more for care. Brad Woodhouse is president of the advocacy group Protect Our Care. He blamed Kennedy's leadership at the Health Department and said "millions of women are paying more for healthcare and have less access to services they need."

The Goal Is Right, but It Needs Real Funding

Women's health researchers like the idea but say it won't work without money.

Researchers are on board, and they want a budget. Three groups issued a joint statement: the Society for Women's Health Research, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Women First Research Coalition. They said the order fits their own plan, which nearly 80 national groups back. That plan calls for $20 billion over 10 years. "Robust and sustained funding is necessary to meaningfully advance research in women's health," they said. They also said they're ready to work with the administration.

Researchers say women's health gets too little money. Basmah Safdar, a Yale women's health researcher, wrote in The Lancet in August that chronic underinvestment calls for new ways to fund the field.

Where This Lands

The White House says women's diseases have gone understudied, and a new NIH division will finally fix that. Critics like Mason say an order with no money can't undo cuts to Medicaid and women's health research. Women's health researchers want the division to succeed, but they say it needs a real budget. NIH has 90 days to set it up, and the order doesn't say who will pay for it.

Sources