THE PULLBACK: BANNING THE WORD, SPENDING THE MONEY.
By Magic City Radar
In April, during Black Maternal Health Week, Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) asked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a question he never answered: “Your agency told programs to remove a list of nearly 200 words and phrases from their funding applications, including the word ‘Black.’ Do you have an idea of how we could solve the Black maternal mortality crisis if we can’t say ‘Black’?”
Six months later, the money answered for him: first they erased the language, then the grants, then they spent what was left on themselves — and now the cuts are coming for the care itself.
Erase. April’s hearing laid out undisputed facts: Black women are at least three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, and most of those deaths are preventable. In Lee’s district, Black women fare worse than peers in 97 percent of U.S. cities. Kennedy acknowledged the disparity, pivoted to “Blacks and whites” — and answered “no” when asked if disparity research counts as illegal DEI. Legal science, real crisis, banned word. The word “Black” even vanished from Momnibus bill titles as sponsors reworded out of fear.
Erase further. In August, the purge went from language to funding: HHS canceled 16 minority-health grants — $38 million — including postpartum visits, cancer screenings, and the University of Arkansas program fighting Black infant and maternal death in the Delta, the state ranked first in those deaths. Grantees were told their work “does not advance minority health.” The money moved to “root causes of infertility”: low sperm count, testosterone, erectile dysfunction. Cancer screenings cut for testosterone prescriptions.
Extract. In September, the Wall Street Journal revealed HHS quietly moved $12 million from minority health to Kennedy’s security ($10M→$17M), though his office held discretionary funds. The office Reagan created in 1986 to close the Black infant mortality gap lost a sixth of its budget in one move; the 2027 plan cuts it $75M→$45M. The Black, Hispanic, and AAPI caucuses condemned it.
Abandon — and the workaround. Now the $900 billion Medicaid cut looms — Medicaid covers roughly two-thirds of Black births, and the math doesn’t care about talking points. But there’s a workaround: cities testing direct cash aid for mothers — Michigan’s Rx Kids — and a Harris/El-Sayed maternal health roundtable in Detroit this month. “Black mamas deserve access to quality healthcare that sees us, listens to us, and understands us,” said Mothering Justice’s Danielle Atkinson. The 14-bill Momnibus has secured $200M+ since 2023 for doulas, midwives, and culturally congruent care.
The pattern: erase the language → erase the grants → extract the remainder → abandon the infrastructure. Each step wore a different mask — ending division, limited funding, new priorities, fiscal responsibility. The direction never changed.
Lee’s question stands: How do you solve a crisis you refuse to name? Washington isn’t trying to. The mothers, the midwives, and the cities writing checks are — with fewer dollars and no illusions.
Sources: Black Enterprise (April 23, 2026) — https://www.blackenterprise.com/rfk-jr-black-maternal-health/ · NOTUS reporting on OMH grant cancellations (Aug 2026) · The Wall Street Journal via Word In Black (Sept 2026) — https://wordinblack.com/2026/09/hhs-cuts-minority-health-budget-for-rfk-jr-s-security/ · Word In Black, “Cash for Moms” (Oct 2026) — https://wordinblack.com/2026/10/cash-for-moms-as-medicaid-cuts-loom-cities-test-a-new-approach-to-black-maternal-health/
