Something important just happened in Washington, D.C., and it deserves more than a passing headline. President Donald Trump has selected Katie Zacharia to serve as White House press secretary. On the surface, that might sound like a routine staffing decision. But for anyone who cares about reproductive freedom, it is a flashing red warning light. Zacharia is not just a conservative commentator or a former Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. She is also someone who has used her platform to spread frighteningly false information about abortion and medication abortion. In one social media post, she claimed, without a shred of evidence, that mifepristone—a drug that has been safely approved by the Food and Drug Administration for 26 years—is connected to the manufacturer of Zyklon B, the deadly gas used in Nazi concentration camps. That is not a policy disagreement. That is a malicious conspiracy theory, and now it is being given one of the biggest megaphones in the United States government. Mini Timmaraju, the president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, put it bluntly: Donald Trump is handing the anti-abortion disinformation movement one of the biggest megaphones in government. Zacharia, she said, is the latest anti-abortion extremist Trump has installed in his administration. And the timing makes it even more alarming. This announcement comes just weeks before the midterm elections, and days after reporting revealed that the White House directed the Justice Department to hold off on abortion-related action until after voters cast their ballots. One conservative in contact with the administration said that after the election, “the gloves will be off.” This appointment is a clear signal that the administration is preparing to escalate its attacks on reproductive freedom the moment the election is over.
Let’s pause on the mifepristone claim, because it is easy to let it blur into the noise of the news cycle, and it deserves more attention than that. Mifepristone is one of two drugs commonly used in medication abortion, and it has been approved by the FDA for more than a quarter of a century. It has a well-established track record of safety and effectiveness. Countless studies, doctors, and medical organizations have confirmed that it is safe. To suggest that it is somehow linked to Zyklon B is not just wrong; it is deeply offensive and dangerously misleading. It is the kind of conspiracy theory that fuels fear, stigma, and policy based on lies. And now the person who spread that lie is going to be the public face of the White House press operation. That means she will be the one standing behind the podium, answering questions, framing the administration’s agenda, and shaping how millions of Americans understand what the government is doing. The press secretary is not a behind-the-scenes advisor. It is one of the most visible roles in the administration. When that role goes to someone who has demonstrated a willingness to distort basic facts about health care, it tells us something important about where this administration is headed. It tells us that reproductive freedom is in serious danger. It tells us that the people in power are not interested in honest debate. They are interested in winning, no matter what falsehoods they have to spread to do it. And it tells us that we cannot afford to look away.
Zacharia does not stand alone. She is joining a long list of anti-abortion extremists that Trump has installed in positions of power over the agencies that control Americans’ access to reproductive health care. Consider the people around her. Todd Blanche, the Attorney General, has promised anti-abortion extremists that the Justice Department would make the Dobbs decision “permanent in every single state.” That is a direct threat to the progress we have made and a promise to keep abortion bans in place everywhere possible. Heidi Overton, Trump’s nominee for FDA Commissioner, has called abortion “corrosive,” celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade as a “huge victory,” and pushed disinformation about the safety of medication abortion. If confirmed, she would oversee the FDA’s sham review of mifepristone—a review that is not based on science, but on ideology. Nicole Saphier, Trump’s nominee for Surgeon General, has dismissed warnings that abortion bans would endanger women with ectopic pregnancies as false information. At her confirmation hearing, she threw her full support behind the FDA’s sham review of mifepristone. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has directed the FDA to conduct a “complete review” of mifepristone despite decades of scientific evidence proving its safety. Erica Schwartz, the CDC Director, called abortion surveillance “absolutely a critical component” of the CDC’s work during her confirmation hearing. And Brian Christine, the Assistant Secretary for Health, led HHS to cut $38 million in grants for postpartum home visits, cancer screenings, and a program working to reduce maternal and infant mortality. The department redirected that money toward what it calls the “root causes of infertility,” including low testosterone and erectile dysfunction. Read that list again. These are the people who are supposed to protect our health, our families, and our futures. Instead, they are using their positions to push an extreme agenda that most Americans do not want.
The timing of Zacharia’s appointment is especially telling. It comes just weeks before the midterm elections, and it comes right after reporting that the White House directed the Justice Department to hold off on abortion-related action until after voters cast their ballots. In other words, the administration knows exactly what it is doing. It knows that abortion is a winning issue for those who support reproductive freedom. It knows that the vast majority of Americans believe abortion should be legal. It knows that if voters see what is actually happening—if they see the bans, the cruelty, the lies, the dangerous ideology being turned into policy—they will be angry. So instead of being honest about its agenda, the administration is trying to hide it until after the election. One conservative in contact with the administration said it plainly: after the election, “the gloves will be off.” That is not a paraphrase. That is not a rumor. It is a direct warning about what is coming. And now Trump is turning the White House briefing room over to another anti-abortion extremist, making Zacharia the public face of an administration that is preparing to escalate its attacks on reproductive freedom once the election is over. Think about what that means for real people. It means more barriers to abortion care. It means more confusion about medication abortion. It means more doctors afraid to treat ectopic pregnancies. It means more women forced to travel hundreds of miles for basic health care. It means more families facing heartbreak and danger because politicians with no medical training have decided they know better than patients and their doctors.
This is not just a political fight. It is a fight about who gets to make decisions about our own bodies, our own lives, and our own futures. That is why Reproductive Freedom for All has been fighting for more than 55 years. Formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice America, the organization has worked to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels, including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and postpartum care, and paid family leave. It is powered by more than 4.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country. That is an incredible force. And it represents something even larger: the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion. Eight out of ten. That is not a fringe position. That is the mainstream. But the administration is not listening to the majority. It is listening to a small, loud, well-funded extreme minority that wants to ban abortion entirely. It is installing people like Katie Zacharia, Todd Blanche, Heidi Overton, Nicole Saphier, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Erica Schwartz, and Brian Christine into positions where they can make decisions that affect millions of lives. It is directing the Justice Department to hold off on abortion-related action until after the election so that voters do not see what is coming. It is planning to use the White House briefing room as a platform for disinformation and fear. The only way to stop that agenda is to organize, to vote, and to demand better from every single elected official. As Mini Timmaraju said, we must put a check on their fringe agenda this November and block their plan to ban abortion after the midterms.
So here we are, standing at a critical moment. The White House press secretary is supposed to be someone who can be trusted to communicate honestly with the American people. Instead, Donald Trump is handing that role to someone who has spread dangerous falsehoods about medication abortion. That is not an accident. It is a strategy. It is part of a broader effort to normalize extremism, to control the narrative, and to push an anti-abortion agenda that has no place in a country where 8 in 10 people support legal abortion. But the story does not end there. We have a choice. We can let this moment pass with a shrug, or we can recognize it for what it is: a warning. This is a reminder that reproductive freedom cannot be taken for granted. It is a reminder that elections have consequences, and that the people who show up to vote are the ones who decide whether our rights are protected or dismantled. The briefing room podium is powerful. But the ballot box is more powerful. The people who spread lies and fear may have access to the microphone, but they do not have the truth on their side. They do not have the science on their side. And they do not have the majority of Americans on their side. What they have is power, and they are using it while they can. We need to use our power, too. We need to talk to our friends, our neighbors, our families. We need to make sure everyone understands what is at stake. And we need to vote like our lives depend on it, because for so many people, they truly do. The future of reproductive freedom is not guaranteed. But it is not lost either. It is still in our hands. And if we pay attention, if we organize, and if we refuse to be silenced, we can stop this. We can protect our rights. We can build a future where everyone has the freedom to make their own decisions about their own body. That is the work ahead of us. And it has never been more urgent.