For millions of U.S. women, July 4, 2025, wasn’t a day of independence or celebration. Instead, the date marked the beginning of their loss of health care.
On that date, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law. The legislation delivered the largest Medicaid cuts in U.S. history and gutted subsidies.
By scaling back Medicaid expansion incentives and reducing financial assistance for marketplace plans, the law made coverage more expensive and harder to access—particularly for low-income people. As costs rise and eligibility pathways narrow, many are expected to switch to less expensive, worse coverage or be pushed out of the insurance market altogether.
The result: An estimated 2.1 million women between the ages of 19 and 49 are expected to lose their Medicaid coverage by 2034—which means preventive care, maternal health services, and treatment for chronic conditions could soon be out of reach.
Nine months later, these cuts have not been felt equally. Black women—already navigating systemic barriers to food access and health care—stand to lose critical support from programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) while facing the brunt of poor outcomes in maternal and sexual health. Here’s how those impacts unfold.
The ‘big, beautiful bill’ restricts programs
Kavelle Christie, a health policy expert and director of the Center for Regulatory Policy and Health Innovation, said the bill’s restrictions on health care “[don’t] just affect the individual; [they] weaken the entire local care system, making it harder for everyone to access [maternal health] services.”
The “big, beautiful bill” slashed funding from SNAP and WIC, which provide critical nutrition assistance to low-income families across the United States.
Together, SNAP serves an estimated 40 million people each month, while WIC supports roughly 6 to 7 million pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and young children. The bill restricts these programs by tightening eligibility requirements and reducing federal funding contributions to state-administered benefits.
“The bill makes it harder for families to get the food support that keeps them healthy,” Christie added in a written response to Rewire News Group. “It tightens SNAP by adding more limits and work requirements, which will push people off the program or shorten how long they can receive help.”
Losing SNAP would be detrimental to many Black women and their families: According to the Pew Research Center, Black households made up just over 28 percent of SNAP recipients in 2023, and nearly one-third of child recipients were Black.
For some Black families, losing access to SNAP and WIC could mean having less consistent meals, limited access to infant formula and nutritional support for children, and more reliance on community food banks and informal support networks.
Disparities like these are rooted in structural inequities, which include historical redlining, underinvestment in predominantly Black neighborhoods, and limited access to affordable, healthy food options. Because of this, Black communities are both more likely to experience food insecurity and are more vulnerable to policy changes that reduce or restrict nutrition assistance.
How the cuts worsen Black maternal health outcomes
Dr. Faith Ohuoba, a board-certified OB-GYN based in Texas, explained that the bill created greater lapses and disparities in reproductive care.
“People will not only find it harder to get the care they need, but fetal conditions, infant mortality, and various reproductive health conditions like fibroids and cysts, will increase in those communities,” Ohuoba wrote to RNG through a representative.
These risks are particularly alarming given the structural disparities Black women already face in maternal health outcomes.
Medicaid covered 64 percent of Black births in 2021, and, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. They’re also more likely to experience preterm labor, stillbirth, and postpartum complications.
“Statistically, Black women and women of color are more dependent on safety-net providers, given that we are already at higher risks for these various health conditions,” Ohuoba added.
At the same time, women are losing influence in the institutions that shape federal health research. An estimated 50 percent of Black and Hispanic women and 25 percent of all women who served on the Boards of Scientific Counselors—the main board responsible for evaluating scientific research across the National Institutes of Health—were fired in March 2025, compared to 6 percent among their white male counterparts. The shift raises concerns about whether diseases that uniquely or disproportionately affect women of color will continue to receive adequate attention and funding.
Gutting sexual health services
Planned Parenthood clinics have been blocked through mid-2026 from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for services like birth control, STI testing, and Pap smears.
The consequences go beyond clinic funding. The administration has also gutted CDC programs, eliminating roughly 2,400 jobs in April 2025; 460 roles were later reinstated. The reductions raise concerns about access to sexual health resources, especially in the Division of Reproductive Health, which develops research and clinical guidelines for contraception use to providers.
These changes come at a time when Black women already face disproportionate risks in sexual health outcomes. Black women accounted for a significantly higher share of new HIV and STI diagnoses compared to white women in 2022, according to the CDC, which also noted gaps in access to care.
Planned Parenthood plays a crucial role in closing those gaps: Nearly half of Black women in an April 2025 KFF poll reported having gone to a Planned Parenthood clinic.
Preparing for the future
Ohuoba suggested that all Black women need to be more hypervigilant now.
“We need to be understanding and listen to our bodies and seek immediate care for preventative services, contraception, and maternal care,” she said. “We must advocate for ourselves.”
Advocates have advised people to contact their elected officials in Congress to voice their concerns about the bill’s impact on health-care access. The Southern Poverty Law Center also recommended pushing state and local officials to fully fund basic-needs programs and submitting comments to federal agencies before they begin implementing many Medicaid provisions later in 2026.
Stacey B. Lee, a health-care law professor at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, also suggested joining collectives that support reproductive justice organizations led by Black women, like SisterSong and Black Mamas Matter Alliance. These groups work to protect and advance bodily autonomy and Black maternal health.
“We can’t fight it alone, but we can fight it together,” Lee said.
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