One could argue that Trump’s second term would benefit the economy, but what lengths will we go until we stop disregarding his other alarming objectives?
With Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States, there will likely be catastrophic consequences for education and healthcare.
The Laws of sexual and reproductive freedom are now severely threatened. According to Politico, the Comstock Act of 1873 banned mail delivery of “lewd or lascivious material,” which could be interpreted to include contraceptives and drugs used for abortions. Eliminating access to these services will cause healthcare providers across the US to be limited in how they treat patients, and innocent women are going to face the repercussions. Fox 59 reported that Josseli Barnica, a woman who had to wait in the hospital until there was no fetal heartbeat in order to terminate her pregnancy, is just one of the many women who have suffered the fatal effects of republican abortion bans. “It would be a crime to give her an abortion,” said her husband.
Many rumors regarding what Trump will do with the Department of Education are spreading across the internet. According to Ed Week, the President-elect wants to dismantle the federal Department of Education. While some states may use this to their advantage to help children, many states could see this as an easy way to monetarily inhibit their educational resources, leaving many children behind educationally.
The No Child Left Behind Act was criticized, so Former President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law to combat many children’s educational struggles. However, Trump wants to significantly defund the DoE, limiting access to food vouchers for low-income students and access to many other needs and after-school programs.
Under the Trump Administration, Ed Week reports that staffing levels shrank significantly in the office of elementary and secondary education, which would presumably only worsen during his upcoming presidency. If Trump enacts such a law during his second term, it will have horrifying effects on the well-being of children in schools all across America.
Under the Trump Administration, the Department of Education’s staffing levels shrank significantly in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which is the branch in charge of overseeing funds for K-12 schools. Ed Week also reports that the office lost nearly 14 percent of its staff between the end of the Obama administration in January 2017 and the midpoint of the Trump administration at the start of 2019, according to Education Week assistant editor Allyson Klein.
While there isn’t anything we can do to prevent Trump from being inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States, we can still take action by calling local politicians, urging states to do right by their children in schools, and the many women receiving reproductive healthcare.
To find out and contact your local representative, visit the Directory of Representatives.
