Representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Trump administration did not explain why the CDC team was cut.
In the recent guidelines, the CDC team changed recommendations for women with Sickle Cell Disease, which already puts patients at increased risk for blood clots.
Born with Sickle Cell Disease, Woolford started a non-profit, Sickle Cell Reproductive Education Directive, that advocates for patients like herself.
Sickle Cell Disease disproportionately affects people of color, a group that Woolford notes has not historically enjoyed parity in reproductive justice.
“The removal of the CDC team to me just reminds me of darker times in our history when people of color were oppressed,” she says.
The eight members of the team were largely indistinguishable from the hundreds of other researchers and scientists who were laid off during the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s mass firings in April.
Losing the group in charge of the CDC’s contraception guidelines, however, was a terrible blow to women’s health for many clinicians who focus on women’s health.
According to Dr. Angeline Ti, a family doctor who focuses on reproductive healthcare and practices in the Atlanta, Georgia, area, “I just remember feeling like — of all the things — I think contraception shouldn’t be controversial.”.
The group was in charge of compiling and sharing contraceptive best practices into a set of guidelines known as U. S. Qualifications for Medical Use of Contraceptives.
Ti says, “I knew that things were going to happen at CDC, but I thought that these guidelines were so important.”. She claims that “pretty much every time” she sees a patient for contraceptive care, she follows the recommendations.
Other medical professionals say they were equally shocked. According to Atlanta, Georgia obstetrician Dr. Andrea Braden, “I mean, there is no other resource that is doing this.”. The OB-GYNs all use it. “.”.
There was no explanation from Trump administration officials or the Department of Health and Human Services as to why the CDC team was dismissed. It was abolished in April as part of the Division of Reproductive Health’s reduction of the Women’s Health and Fertility Branch.
HHS was contacted by NPR for comment on this story, but they did not respond.
A vital app.
Braden claims that busy medical professionals who see a lot of patients just do not have the time to go through all of the most recent research. Thus, the CDC team created a recommendation app that physicians could download and use to quickly find answers to their questions about contraception, including how to approach the subject for patients with particular illnesses and conditions. The CDC reports that it was downloaded 440,000 times.
Braden says, “The app was just a game changer for us.”. That was really easy to understand, well-structured, and a great quick reference for us. We all instinctively trusted this resource. “.”.
The team responsible for updating the guidelines is no longer in existence, but the current guidelines are still available.
Despite the fact that the guidelines were only recently released, doctors warn that they will soon become outdated if they are not closely followed. According to hematologist Dr. Dot Deva Sharma, “medicine is not static,” and following the guidelines is an essential component of her practice. It is always changing and getting better. “.”.
The most recent guidelines were released by the team in 2024. Braden gives the example of a change that significantly affected her discussions with her patients regarding birth control recommendations for nursing mothers. The new guidelines recognized for the first time that certain forms of contraception may endanger nursing mothers’ ability to produce milk.
She claims that this update marked a paradigm shift in how physicians view the value of giving patients the autonomy to decide whether or not to breastfeed. “That was a really crucial part of the update,” Braden says. “Instead of telling people what they need after giving birth, it helped us direct our practice. The patient was genuinely made the focal point of the discussion. “.
For certain patients and physicians who are treating particular conditions, discussing contraception can be life-or-death. Sharma specializes in treating women who have sickle cell disease, an inherited red blood cell disorder that increases the risk of potentially fatal pregnancy complications significantly compared to those who do not have the condition.
Sharma describes the dismissal of the CDC team as “detrimental to women’s health,” and she also remembers clearly the moment she learned about it through a message from a colleague. Sharma recalls feeling “just overwhelmed and devastated.”.
The CDC team revised recommendations for women with sickle cell disease, which already increases the risk of blood clots, in the most recent guidelines. Due to new evidence that suggests certain forms of contraception may increase risk, doctors who treat this disease say they now hardly ever prescribe them to their patients.
Braden claims that she is still perplexed as to why such a useful resource was removed. She says, “I don’t understand,” “Why this medical field? Why them? This is a waste.”. “,”.
She cautions that the medical updates provided by this guide will not be compensated for by doctors. She cautions that “it is very difficult to keep up with all of it because medicine changes so quickly.”. “New information is released, new studies are conducted, and we discover that there is an improved method. The same is true of contraceptive medication. “,”.
It is challenging to quantify missed treatment options.
Teonna Woolford is one patient who is aware of the value of the CDC’s contraception guidelines, but many patients may not be aware of medical advancements that do not benefit them.
In order to support patients like herself, Woolford founded the non-profit Sickle Cell Reproductive Education Directive after being diagnosed with sickle cell disease. According to Woolford, the illness is frequently characterized by a lack of clarity and difficulty in making difficult treatment decisions.
According to Woolford, “having the guidelines was really like a proactive approach to addressing contraception,”. “There are numerous research and knowledge gaps in this area. “..”.
According to Woolford, people of color, who have not traditionally had equal access to reproductive justice, are disproportionately affected by sickle cell disease. “To me, the removal of the CDC team just brings to mind more somber periods in our history when people of color faced oppression,” she says.
Maternal mortality rates are disproportionately high among Black women in the US.
Doctor. Braden views the team’s elimination as a blow to women worldwide. When something like contraceptives are targeted, it truly harms those of us in the women’s health field. Braden says. “It was really discouraging because this is basic healthcare for OBGYNs. I would describe my feelings as being confused, sad, and angry. “..”.
She brings up the fact that many women in the U.S. A. No longer is it legal to end a pregnancy. According to them, this makes it even more crucial for them to be able to decide for themselves what the best ways are to avoid getting pregnant in the first place.
