By Melissa O’Rourke
The Trump administration is looking to slash an office at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) whose critics say has been a major driver of gender ideology and abortion policies in the federal government.
The Office of Population Affairs (OPA) saw roughly 30 employees issued reduction-in-force (RIF) notices Oct. 10, effectively sidelining most of the agency’s staff, individuals familiar with the matter told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The cuts come as White House officials repeatedly warned that staffing reductions could occur if Democrats continue to refuse to reopen the government.
OPA’s stated mission is to advance “reproductive health outcomes and adolescent health and wellbeing by supporting high-quality clinical services, evidence-based and innovative programs, rigorous research and evaluation.” Critics, however, contend the agency has been used to advance Democratic policies. (RELATED: Federal Workers’ Unions Say They’ll Accept ‘Severe Hardship’ If They Can Stick It To Trump During Shutdown)
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 22: (L-R) Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, U.S. President Donald Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Education Secretary Linda McMahon attend and release event for a new Make America Healthy Again Commission report in the East Room of the White House on May 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Ahead of the Oct. 1 shutdown deadline, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directed agencies to draft RIF plans for individuals employed in programs that lacked a current funding source or were inconsistent with the administration’s priorities. OPA was targeted because of its history of advocating for and funding organizations that promoted gender ideology and abortion, the people with knowledge of the events said.
The primary function of OPA is to administer Title X of the Public Health Service Act, which offers grants to support a “broad range of acceptable and effective family planning methods and related preventive health services that include natural family planning methods, infertility services, and services for adolescents.” In practice, however, the office has increasingly emphasized pregnancy prevention, sources said.
Moreover, while the Title X statute prohibits Title X funds from directly supporting abortions, the Biden administration overturned a rule which barred Title X projects from providing information about or referrals for abortion, according to the Congressional Research Service. Most projects are now required to provide such referrals if requested by clients, including referrals for abortion.
Affiliates of Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the country, have also received millions in Title X funding over the years.
Regulations finalized in October 2021 specifies Title X projects are prohibited from requiring parental consent or notifying a parent or guardian when a minor seeks or receives services. In 2024, Texas challenged the rule in court, leading HHS to suspend its enforcement within the state.
Under the Biden administration, individuals affiliated with pro-abortion organizations were embedded in OPA, and one such employee who remained after the Trump administration took office was affected by the recent RIF, sources said.
OPA under the previous administration also published materials that endorsed so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors as being “crucial to overall health and well-being as it allows the child or adolescent to focus on social transitions and can increase their confidence while navigating the healthcare system.”
OPA grants have also gone to organizations promoting gender ideology to minors and distributing sexually explicit content, sources familiar with the matter said. In July, HHS issued a notice clarifying that grantees awarded by OPA’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program are prohibited from using federal funds for materials promoting gender ideology, LGBTQIA+ topics, or “anti-American ideologies.”
A couple of employees remain to perform the statutorily required functions of the office, the people familiar said.
Since taking power, the Trump administration has moved to curb the office, including a proposal to eliminate the program entirely in its 2026 budget proposal.
“HHS under the Biden administration became a bloated bureaucracy, growing its budget by 38% and its workforce by 17%,” Rich Danker, assistant secretary for public affairs at HHS, told the DCNF.
Republican Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois — who introduced an amendment for the 2023 Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill to cut funding to the office — lauded the administration’s action.
“The Office of Population Affairs has long used taxpayer dollars to advance the leftist agenda targeting children and the unborn,” Miller told the DCNF. “I applaud the Trump Administration’s efforts to root out far-left programs in the federal government that undermine the very fabric of our country.”
OMB Director Russ Vought, who has long sought to cut the size of government, is now taking concrete steps to slash federal spending since the beginning of Trump’s second term.
It remains uncertain, however, whether the layoffs will be made permanent after a federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plan to dismiss thousands of federal employees amid the shutdown. Danker said HHS is not currently taking actions to implement or administer its RIFs.
Government funding lapsed Oct. 1 after a majority of Senate Democrats rejected a clean, bipartisan spending bill aimed at averting a shutdown. Democrats have tied their support for funding the government to $1.5 trillion in new spending for various left-leaning priorities, as well as language limiting the president’s ability to rescind funds.
