MAHA Wins: A Break Through in Women’s Health, An Historic MAHA Summit, and New Hope for Foster Children

By Adam Garrie, The MAHA Report

There were several major firsts for MAHA last week:

The first MAHA Summit, a nearly 1000-person event held in Washington, DC; an epochal women’s health event at HHS headquarters; and executive actions to help make families stronger.

MAHA Summit Occupies Washington

Activists and MAHA thought leaders gathered in the nation’s capital for a MAHA state-of-the-nation featuring a series of talks, interviews, and fireside chats. The day’s centerpiece was Vice President J.D. Vance in dialogue with HHS Secretary Kennedy.

Vance and Kennedy criticized the pervasive culture of censorship, especially of science, prior to their arrival in Washington earlier this year. i

“The people who make advances in science almost 100% of the time are people who are willing to challenge orthodoxies and advance heterodoxies and talk about new ways of thinking,” Secretary Kennedy said.

Both men spoke of their commitment to gold-standard science and radical transparency as the vital foundation for honest and effective policy making.

Vice President Vance linked MAHA to a drive to promote freedom, and to political populism:

“People are pissed off when they don’t have good jobs, and people are pissed off when things disappear and move overseas. And people are pissed off when they feel like, you know, other countries are being prioritized over the United States of America. And all of that is part of the... the populist resentment of the past, you know, 20 or 30 years in American politics. You know what really pisses people off? When they realize that their loved ones are dying much sooner than everybody else. And that is a big part of the story of what’s going on in Appalachia and why I think so many people in Appalachia feel left behind.”

No More Fearmongering On Women’s Health

During an HHS event focused on Women’s Health , the FDA announced the removal of black box warnings from hormone replacement therapies (HRTs) designed for menopausal women (on average, ages 45 - 55).

Writing about the issue in The MAHA Report, Catherine Ebeling noted that long- standing warnings against HRT for some menopausal women were based on flawed science, particularly a study of women who were significantly older than the onset of menopause.

The FDA also approved two new treatments to expand options for managing symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats. These include the first generic version of Premarin (conjugated estrogens) in more than 30 years—enhancing affordability without compromising safety or efficacy—and a novel non-hormonal therapy, elinzanetant (branded as Lynkuet), for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms in women who cannot or prefer not to use hormone-based options.

The FDA also approved a “non-hormonal treatment for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms, such as hot flashes, associated with menopause,” according to an official statement.

Commenting on these historic changes, Secretary Kennedy said, “Today, we are standing up for every woman who has symptoms of menopause and is looking to know her options and receive potentially life-changing treatment. For more than two decades, bad science and bureaucratic inertia have resulted in women and physicians having an incomplete view of HRT. We are returning to evidence-based medicine and giving women control over their health again.”

FDA Commissioner Dr. Martin Makary later explained that, for decades, the media had fearmongered women about HRT, thereby depriving them of a potentially important treatment. “The fear machine did start in 2003 after a 2002 study that really hit the airwaves in the media with a big splash, scaring women out of hormone replacement therapy in the postmenopausal setting,” Makary said. “Up to one in four Americans were taking it. Women lived longer and felt better, but then it got deemed a carcinogen based on this study. It turns out when the study results were finally released after the media announcement, there was no statistically significant increased risk of breast cancer. There was a lower rate of breast cancer in the estrogen-only group”

Trump Administration Sees Censorship As Security Threat

Multiple sources reported that the Trump administration is preparing to deport foreign national, Imran Ahmed. Ahmed is best known for a leading role at the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a pro-censorship group whose malicious reports were used by the Biden administration and social media companies as a means of rationalizing the deprivation of constitutional freedoms for scores of doctors, scientists and whistle-blowers.

New Hope For Foster Children

President Trump signed an Executive Order that directly impacts America’s families and children. Titled “Fostering the Future for American Children and Families,” the initiative was launched by First Lady Melania Trump, who spoke about her passion for improving conditions for foster children.

This EO establishes the ‘Fostering the Future’ program to secure commitments from government, private industry, nonprofits, and academic partners for creating new educational and employment pathways tailored toward young people transitioning out of foster care. It also authorizes the development of an online resource and planning hub designed specifically for current and former foster youth, enabling them to build customized plans for self-sufficiency and success by linking to essential resources.

The EO also increases access to federal support, including Education and Training Vouchers (ETVs) and grants to fund time-limited, credentialed programs that advance educational achievement, workforce development, and financial literacy among young people. Finally, it expands educational opportunities by promoting state-level use of scholarship programs, which are funded through tax-credited donations to organizations granting scholarships for children in foster care.

The EO also clarifies that foster care is an option of last resort. This means that welfare officials will continue to advocate for children staying with their birth parents or extended family unless it’s untenable.