Personnel, as they say, is policy. So pro-lifers have to be happy about this appointment:
Charmaine Yoest, who for several years was head of Americans United for Life (AUL), will be HHS assistant secretary for public affairs. AUL played an instrumental role in the recent wave of anti-abortion laws by feeding model legislation to state lawmakers.
Under Yoest, the group pushed model bills that outlawed abortion after 20 weeks, required abortion providers to gain admitting privileges at local hospitals, and mandated counseling and waiting periods for women seeking abortions. AUL is also opposed to the use of the morning-after pill and IUDs. Between 2010 and 2016, states have enacted 288 restrictions on abortion. The AUL directly credits its own work for several dozen of those laws. Its model legislation may have inspired countless more.
Abortion abolitionists had good reasons to be skeptical of President Trump, whose conversion story on the issue is a bit less than convincing. But they have little to complain about so far in terms of appointments like Justice Neil Gorsuch, Tom Price, and even in lower ones like this. Although there are remaining issues, such as the continuation of litigation against employers over the contraception mandate, Trump seems to be mostly with the program, and this choice of personnel at a lower level seems like a confirmation of that.
