NEW YORK — Several webpages and datasets have been reinstated by federal health agencies following a judge’s directive aimed at restoring public access to previously removed information due to compliance with a presidential executive order.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) restored nine webpages and datasets on Tuesday night. This includes critical topics such as adolescent health, HIV monitoring and testing, contraception guidelines, and information on how pollution, poverty, and other socioeconomic factors affect specific communities.
Similarly, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reinstated recommendations that focus on enhancing female participation in clinical trials, analyzing sex-specific data, and ensuring that medical product regulatory submissions include relevant sex-specific information.
This action follows a January 20 executive order from President Donald Trump, on his first day of re-entry into the White House, which mandated federal agencies to use the term “sex” rather than “gender” in official documents and policies. The Office of Personnel Management’s acting director subsequently instructed agency heads to dismantle any programs and remove any websites promoting what were termed “gender ideology,” leading to significant removals across various government online platforms.
While some information was gradually restored, public health specialists noted that many crucial details remained inaccessible. Advocacy group Doctors for America went so far as to file a lawsuit against the Office of Personnel Management, the CDC, the FDA, and the Department of Health and Human Services, citing the need for transparency in these removals.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington ordered the government to restore several webpages and datasets highlighted by the advocacy group as lacking from online resources. He also mandated the identification of other pages that were taken down “without adequate notice or reasoned explanation.”
According to an unnamed federal health official, the nine CDC pages referenced in the lawsuit were reinstated to their previous status as of January 30. However, it was reported early Wednesday that not all restoration efforts appeared to be complete, with certain links on the recovered pages still malfunctioning.
