When Donald Trump's second presidential term began in January 2025, women's rights organisations worldwide braced for impact. Few, however, were prepared for the sheer speed and scale of the assault that unfolded. A deliberate torrent of executive orders from the White House created panic and confusion, overwhelming global health systems. This strategic chaos marked the start of a year defined by a severe rollback of sexual and reproductive healthcare, disproportionately affecting women and girls in the world's most vulnerable regions.
The Dismantling of Global Health Aid
The first major blow landed with the freezing and subsequent evisceration of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In March, just six weeks after its initial freeze caused global turmoil, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that 83% of the agency's programmes would be eliminated. The move was condemned by US diplomats, former presidents, and health experts who warned it would lead to widespread death. Rights defenders labelled it a savage attack on human rights, particularly family planning. The repercussions were swift and deadly: by year's end, data indicated hundreds of thousands had perished from preventable disease, starvation, and a lack of maternal care. The UK and the Netherlands, the next largest funders, compounded the crisis with their own aid cuts.
A Coordinated Anti-Rights Movement Gains Ground
This policy shift was driven by the US administration and amplified by a well-funded, ultra-conservative network. Organisations like Family Watch International, C-Fam, and the Alliance Defending Freedom, with strong links to governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, seized the moment. In March, as the UN Women summit convened, these groups held a parallel conference in New York to strategise on defeating the UN's "radical agenda." Their confidence was buoyed by the new US stance. Simultaneously, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that "the poison of patriarchy" was resurgent, with anti-rights actors actively undermining global consensus on women's rights.
This transnational effort was particularly visible in Africa over the summer. Conferences in Uganda and Kenya, focused on "traditional family values" and national sovereignty, featured leading US and European anti-rights figures. They urged African NGOs to resist what they called the "radical global social engineering" of the UN and EU. Campaigners noted the significant scale of this foreign influence, which provided ideological support for regressive policies.
From Contraceptive Destruction to an Expanded Gag Rule
The ideological war had dire practical consequences. By July, clinics across sub-Saharan Africa reported critical shortages of contraceptives, including emergency kits for rape survivors. In a shocking move, the US announced plans to destroy $10 million worth of contraceptives stored in a Belgian warehouse. The International Planned Parenthood Federation warned this would deny supplies to 1.4 million women, leading to 174,000 unintended pregnancies and 56,000 unsafe abortions. Médecins Sans Frontières called the plan "callous" and "reckless." Offers from NGOs to purchase the supplies were refused.
The assault culminated in October with the expansion of the "global gag rule." While its reinstatement by Trump in January was expected, the new policy went further, threatening to extend the ban on US aid to foreign governments and multilateral organisations that support abortion or diversity programmes. Reproductive justice campaigners fear this expanded rule will be a condition of new US aid packages for African nations, with Rajat Khosla of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health warning of "unimaginable effects."
The year 2025 has set a dangerous precedent, demonstrating how quickly decades of progress in global health and women's rights can be unravelled by political will, creating a humanitarian crisis whose full toll is yet to be seen.
