Policy Watch Apr 09, 2026
Active Issues
Legislative, regulatory, and budget actions we are currently tracking.
State Action Required
Medicaid Postpartum Coverage
Federal action enables 12-month postpartum Medicaid coverage. Multiple states have not yet extended coverage, leaving millions of postpartum women at risk.
Under Pressure
Title X Family Planning Program
Federal funding for Title X, the only program dedicated solely to family planning, faces proposed cuts that would reduce access to contraception and STI screening for low-income women.
Active
AHRQ Funding & Patient Safety Research
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality faces cuts exceeding one-third of its budget, threatening the evidence base that informs care quality standards and women's preventive care guidelines.
Policy Analysis
In-depth analysis of federal policy affecting women's health.
Policy Watch Apr 02, 2026
Reading Between the Lines: The FY2027 Budget and Women's Health Research
Policy Watch Mar 17, 2026
The NIH Sex-as-a-Biological-Variable Policy Is Under Pressure — and Why It Matters
Policy Watch Oct 04, 2023
Closing the Global Women's Health Gap Requires More Than Awareness
DWHC Policy Principles
01
Science must drive policy.
Policy built on incomplete or biased evidence produces incomplete or biased outcomes. Research that excludes women produces policy that fails women.
02
Equity is non-negotiable.
No women's health policy that does not address racial, economic, and geographic disparities can be called a women's health policy.
03
Patient experience is evidence.
The lived experience of patients — including what the tests miss, what providers dismiss, and what the system makes impossible — is epidemiologically important.
04
Research infrastructure is health infrastructure.
Cuts to NIH, NIMHD, ORWH, and AHRQ are cuts to the foundation that evidence-based medicine is built on. They should be treated as such.