The Trump Administration Has Reportedly Banned the CDC From Using Words Such as 'Transgender' and 'Fetus'

In its signature
authoritarian preference of democratic governing style, the Trump administration has reportedly banned the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using seven words in their budget documents. The words are: “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based,” “science-based,” and “vulnerable.” This could cause problems because scientists might need some of those words, like “fetus,” to study fetal brain development to make sure your fucking fetus doesn’t get fucking microcephaly. It’s times like this that I imagine I’ll look back in ten years (if humans are still alive) and think, “hmm, that was probably the time to go.”
Or was August the time to go, when the Department of Agriculture banned phrases like “climate change” and “reduce greenhouse gasses” and replaced them with “weather extremes” and “increase nutrient use efficiency”?
Or was it June, when the “travel ban” was actually “extreme vetting” until it wasn’t?
Anyway, here we are again. According to the Washington Post, policy analysts at the CDC in Atlanta report that “senior officials” briefed them on Thursday to replace phrases like “science-based” or ­“evidence-based,” with “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes.” Which essentially means “science”–the one major thing the CDC needs to make sure we’re not all going to die–is now subject to approval by any ole schmo who has an opinion about it.
Fuck.
As the Post points out, several federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, have been quietly dropping mentions of the LGBT community altogether. For example, HHS has “removed information about LGBT Americans from its website.”
One tactic to get around bald censorship has been to out-word the government. An NPR study from earlier this year found that scientists applying for public funding have been cutting down on mentions of “climate change” and referencing “extreme weather” instead.
Last year before the election, CNN was reporting that Obama blocked the use of words “negro” and “oriental,” writing, “Welcome to 2016.” Now it’s 2017, and Errol Louis is on CNN quoting 1984.
Fetus fetus fetus fetus fetus fetus fetus!!!!!!!!


It is unimaginably dangerous to forbid the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from speaking about things essential to Americans’ health. This edict doesn’t just mean a change in vocabulary. It means the Trump-Pence administration is trying to make a radical change in the focus of the entire agency.
You cannot fight against the Zika virus, or improve women’s and fetal health, if you are unable to use the word ‘fetus.’ You must be able to talk about science and evidence if you are to research cures for infectious diseases such as Ebola. You must be able to acknowledge the humanity of transgender people in order to address their health care needs. You cannot erase health inequities faced by people of color simply by forbidding the use of the words ‘vulnerable’ or ‘diversity’.