Statement by NOW President Christian F. Nunes
WASHINGTON — It took Donald Trump just two hours after being sworn in to begin signing nearly 100 executive orders fulfilling his vision of a new American revolution—away from democracy and closer to oligarchy, exclusion and danger.
NOW is committed to standing up to attacks on women’s health, economic security and freedom from harm. On his first day in office, Donald Trump took a wrecking ball to all of it. His avalanche of executive orders is defined by cruelty, not common sense, and puts people in real danger.
One of his first actions was to remove established legal protections that combat discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation, including facilities for refugees, asylum seekers and other immigrants.
Passports will no longer be issued with an “unspecified” gender marker, and the Justice Department is directed to re-examine how to take away Title IX protections for transgender students. What’s more, Trump’s order clears the way to bar transgender people from military service.
Trump’s extremist executive orders spree also targeted the millions of citizens on Medicare and Medicaid. He undid a Biden administration initiative that capped the price of certain generic drugs at $2 for Medicare beneficiaries, and improved access to high-cost cell and gene therapies for Medicaid recipients.
A third item on Donald Trump’s scorecard of shame is his attack on birthright citizenship—guaranteed by the 14th Amendment in the wake of the Civil War to guarantee equal rights to all persons born in the U.S., including the descendants of slaves. Racism has always been at the heart of attacks on birthright citizenship, and racism, discrimination and cruelty are at the cold heart of Donald Trump’s executive orders.
These orders must not stand.