Federal reproductive rights website goes dark

January 20, 2025, marked the inauguration of Donald Trump. It also coincided with the US federal government’s website on reproductive healthcare going offline. Many media outlets started reporting last night that the website had disappeared.

ReproductiveRights.gov was published in 2022 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) as part of a public health awareness campaign. It’s unclear when the site officially went down, but the Way Back Machine, an initiative of the Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, that is building a digital library of internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form, shows the last imprint on January 15, 2025.

The web archive for the federal website shows that it shared information:

• defending mifepristone as a safe and effective medication for medicated abortions
• describing patient rights to emergency healthcare under EMTALA
• outlining that the Affordable Care Act requires most employer-based health plans and private health insurance plans to cover family planning counseling and certain birth control methods with no out-of-pocket costs to patients with prescriptions
• describing that most health insurance plans should also cover other preventative care services such as annual GYN exams, breast cancer screening, prenatal care, and breastfeeding support services
• highlighting that healthcare providers and insurance companies are subject to HIPAA

The 2022 press release by HHS on President Biden’s Executive Order to protect access to reproductive healthcare which included the launch of reproductiverights.gov has also been archived. According to the US National Archives, presidential White House websites are archived and maintained as public domain records. The Biden White House website is available here but does not include previously published information such as fact sheets on the White House Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access, which was not available at the time of publication.

The removal of reproductiverights.gov raises questions around whose responsibility it is to provide trustworthy healthcare information to the public. In the absence of websites maintained by the federal government, should private organizations step in? Planned Parenthood and Bedsider are well-regarded resources for accurate information related to contraception, sexual health, and unplanned pregnancy options. Additionally, Google AI overviews are increasingly providing consumer health information, and DHI previously encouraged Google to vet quality sources in creating these summaries.

A quick Google search of options for birth control provided the following AI Overview which linked to information by the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic – reputable health resources. While the federal government is sorting out its position on citizen reproductive health information, other organizations are pitch hitting in the meantime.

Katie D. McMillan, MPH is the CEO of Well Made Health, LLC, a business strategy consulting firm for health technology companies. She is also a curious researcher and writer focusing on digital health evidence, healthcare innovation, and women’s health. Katie can be reached at [email protected] or LinkedIn.