A federal judge has ordered federal health agencies to restore websites and datasets that were abruptly pulled down beginning in late January, prompting an outcry from medical and public health communities.
The temporary restraining order was granted in response to a lawsuit filed against the federal government by Doctors for America (DFA), a progressive advocacy group representing physicians, and the nonprofit Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group.
Last week, a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told NPR “changes to the HHS website and HHS division websites are in accordance with President Trump’s January 20 Executive Orders, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government and Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.”
The pages that are now set to be revived include information for patients about HIV testing and HIV prevention medication, guidance on contraceptives, data on adolescent and youth mental health, and an action plan for improving enrollment of underrepresented populations in clinical trials.
Judge John Bates with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001, said the sudden loss of these resources had jeopardized the work of clinicians and public health.
“It bears emphasizing who ultimately bears the harm of defendants’ actions: everyday Americans, and most acutely, underprivileged Americans, seeking healthcare,” he wrote in his opinion.
The Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have until midnight Tuesday to bring back the specific webpages cited in the lawsuit.
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