January 20 – Donald Trump is sworn-in as President of the United States
Donald J. Trump is sworn-in as the 47th President of the United States at a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda.
January 20 – Recognition of just two sexes
Calling the eradication of “biological sex” an attack on women and “corrosive … of the entire American system,” Trump issued a memorandum stating federal policy must be based on the “truth” that there are only two sexes, male and female. Sex is an “immutable biological classification” that begins at conception, the memorandum maintains. It stated that “gender ideology” is “an ever-shifting concept of self-assessed gender identity, permitting the false claim that males can identify as and thus become women and vice versa, and requiring all institutions of society to regard this false claim as true.” Gender ideology includes a spectrum of genders “disconnected from one’s sex.” It denies that “gender identity” provides a “meaningful basis for identification” because it exists on an infinite and constantly changing continuum, and therefore “cannot be recognized as a replacement for sex.” All agencies shall enforce laws and provide protections and accommodations based only on sex, and not gender identity. All agencies must use the term sex instead of gender, and government documents would be issued in accordance with these rules. Furthermore, all agencies must “end the federal funding of gender ideology” and ensure that no grants are used to “promote gender ideology.” No longer will biological men be housed in women’s prisons, or vice versa, nor will women’s shelters be required to admit biological males. Federal funding will no longer be made available to inmates seeking sex-change operations. Lastly, regulations promoting gender ideology in schools and universities were rescinded.
January 20 – Executive order “Withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization”
In 2020, during his first term, Trump gave the pro-abortion World Health Organization (WHO) notice that the U.S. would withdraw from the body due to WHO’s “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Citing WHO’s past mistakes, failure to make reforms, and the huge tab that the U.S. pays for the organization, Trump once again gave notice that the United States was withdrawing from the organization, and sought to immediately cease all funding and support for WHO. Washington would also cease all negotiations on the WHO Pandemic Agreement which critics say would violate the national sovereignty of signatories.
January 20 – “One Flag Policy” bans pride flags
Secretary of State Marco Rubio implemented the “One Flag Policy” barring all U.S. embassies and other buildings from flying any other flag but the Stars and Stripes. The new order bans American buildings from flying the gay pride, transgender progress, and Black Lives Matter flags. “Starting immediately, only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestic and abroad, and featured in U.S. government content,” the order stated.
January 20 – Government-run pro-abortion website goes dark
ReproductiveRights.gov, a website established by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to promote abortion, was shut down. The website provided pro-abortion propaganda and resources after the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. It also encouraged women who were denied abortion to file lawsuits through the HHS Office for Civil Rights. There was no White House announcement about the change.
January 23 — Trump pardons pro-life prisoners
Trump officially pardoned 23 pro-lifers imprisoned after they were found guilty of violating the Freedom to Access Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act which prohibits the blocking of abortion mills. Under President Joe Biden, the Department of Justice was “weaponized” to harass pro-life activists who protested at but did not block abortion mills; 21 of the 23 were arrested after they prayed in front of abortuaries or counseled women about alternatives to abortion. Trump freed the 23 prisoners, calling the pardons “a great honour” and saying none of the 23 should have been prosecuted. The now-pardoned pro-lifers are: Joan Bell, Coleman Boyd, Joel Curry, Jonathan Darnel, Eva Edl, Chester Gallagher, Rosemary “Herb” Geraghty, William Goodman, Dennis Green, Lauren Handy, Paulette Harlow, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, Jean Marshall, Father Fidelis Moscinski, Justin Phillips, Paul Place, Bevelyn Beatty Williams, and Calvin, Eva, and James Zastrow. Thomas More Society counsel Martin Cannon, an attorney for Lauren Handy, said, “This is a motley crew of people. These are conservatives and liberals and atheists and Christians. These are amazing people!” Senator Mike Lee (R, Utah) and Rep. Chip Roy (R, Texas) have introduced legislation to repeal the FACE Act so it can’t be weaponized against pro-lifers in the future.
January 23 – Expressed support for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
The White House issued a “Statement of Administration Policy” urging Congress to pass H.R. 21, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Act, which, if passed, would require the provision of medical care “for vulnerable newborns who survive an abortion attempt.” The policy statement said, “A baby that survives an abortion and is born alive into this world should be treated just like any other baby born alive. H.R. 21 would properly amend current law to ensure that the life of one baby is not treated as being more or less valuable than another.”
January 24 – Donald Trump and JD Vance address the March
for Life
Talking to the March for Life in Washington by recorded video message, Trump said, “In my second term, we will again stand proudly for families and for life” and, “we will protect women and vulnerable children.” Vice President JD Vance appeared in-person at the March for Life. While he eschewed talking about specific policies, he told the crowd Trump would be “the most pro-family, most pro-life American president of our lifetimes.”
January 24 – U.S. rejoins the Geneva Consensus Declaration
The first Trump administration was a founding signatory to the Geneva Consensus Declaration, which affirmed there was no international right to abortion and committed countries to protecting women and preborn children. President Joe Biden immediately removed the U.S. from the life-affirming coalition. At the United Nations on Jan. 24, U.S. ambassador Elsie Stefanik, announced that Washington has rejoined the Geneva Consensus, indicating that the U.S. will no longer support the various pro-abortion initiatives of the United Nations and its agencies.
January 24 – Executive order ending federal tax dollars to fund or promote abortion
Trump signed an executive order undoing the possibly illegal funding of abortion under the Biden administration, which violated the Hyde Amendment, a law that prohibited taxpayer dollars from being used for elective abortion. Biden “embedded federal funding … in a wide variety of government programs” and those orders are being rescinded, including through the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, reimbursement to family members of active and retired members of the military, and for illegal immigrants through the Department of Health and Human Services. In a separate executive order, Trump revived the Mexico City Policy to end the use of American funding for abortion overseas, reinstating the policy Trump inaugurated in 2017. Under the Mexico City Policy, “no U.S. taxpayer money supports foreign organizations that perform or actively promote abortion in other nations.”
January 28 – Memorandum “Protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation”
Henceforth, “it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.” So-called gender-affirming care procedures outlawed include: “the use of puberty blockers, including GnRH agonists and other interventions, to delay the onset or progression of normally timed puberty in an individual who does not identify as his or her sex; the use of sex hormones, such as androgen blockers, estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone, to align an individual’s physical appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex; and surgical procedures that attempt to transform an individual’s physical appearance to align with an identity that differs from his or her sex or that attempt to alter or remove an individual’s sexual organs to minimize or destroy their natural biological functions.” Institutions that receive federal funding for research or education, will no longer be eligible for taxpayer money if they continue to carry out chemical and surgical mutilations of children. The executive order also requires Health and Human Services to improve the “quality of data” on gender dysphoria. It also urges Congress to pass a law to allow children harmed by gender medicine to sue health care providers “which should include a lengthy statute of limitations,” and directs the Department of Justice to take action against states and cities providing “sanctuary” for minors seeking gender medicine interventions opposed by their parents through an application of the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act.
