Our Health Research Is on the Line. We Have Until July 13 to Fight Back.

A new federal rule would hand political appointees the power to approve, or kill, every research grant. Here is what it means for Black women, and how to make your voice heard.

Let us tell you a quiet truth about how progress happens.

Almost everything we know about Black women’s health, the maternal mortality numbers we quote, the decades-long Black Women’s Health Study that has followed tens of thousands of us since 1995, the studies that prove our pain is real and our risks are higher, exists because independent scientists were free to ask hard questions and follow the evidence wherever it led. Federal research dollars made that possible. And for decades, decisions about which studies got funded were made by panels of experts who judged the science on its merit, not on its politics.

That is about to change, unless we act.

What is actually being proposed

At the end of May, the federal Office of Management and Budget released a 412-page proposed rule with a dull name and an enormous reach. It is called the Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance, and it would rewrite the rules for every research grant the government awards, at the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and across the board.

Here is the heart of it. Right now, when scientists apply for federal funding, their proposals go through peer review, where other experts in the field evaluate the science. Under this proposal, that expert review would be reduced to a suggestion. The final decision on every grant would move to senior political appointees, who would have to sign off before any money is awarded. The rule asks them to confirm that the research will advance the administration’s policy priorities.

Read that again. The question would no longer be only “is this good science that could save lives.” The question would become “does this serve the priorities of whoever happens to hold power.”

And it does not stop there. The proposal would let officials terminate grants already underway, at any time, simply by saying the work no longer fits agency priorities, with no real way to appeal. It would allow those reviewing your application to weigh your activities outside the lab, including your advocacy and the organizations you belong to. And it would formally bar federally funded research on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Why this lands directly on us

Sit with that last part for a moment, because this is where it stops being abstract.

The entire reason organizations like ours exist is that the health system has not served Black women equally, and someone had to study why and demand better. Research on disparities, on why our maternal death rate is multiple times higher, on why our pain gets dismissed, on why so few of us who could benefit from certain treatments ever receive them, that is equity research. That is the work this rule is designed to discourage and defund.

This very week we shared findings from a national survey of nearly 3,900 mothers showing that Black women face the greatest barriers and the worst outcomes in childbirth. That kind of evidence is exactly what moves policy and saves lives. Now imagine that future studies like it have to clear a political gatekeeper first, one who can decide that asking about race and inequity is no longer a priority.

The piece about weighing an applicant’s advocacy and affiliations should chill every one of us too. The researchers we partner with speak up, march, testify, and tell the truth. A rule that invites officials to hold that against them is not about science. It is about silence.

They have an explanation. It does not hold up.

The administration says this is about transparency, accountability, and protecting taxpayer dollars from waste. Stewardship of public money is a fair thing to want, and no one is arguing against rooting out genuine fraud.

But you do not fix waste by handing political appointees a veto over which questions science is allowed to ask. The leading voices in public health have not minced words. The head of the American Public Health Association warned the proposal could devastate research in this country. Independent science groups have called it an escalation of a sustained attack on their work. When the people who actually do this work are this alarmed, we listen.

The deeper danger is simple. Science that has to please the powerful is no longer science. It is a press release. And the communities who have always had to fight hardest to be studied, believed, and treated are the first ones erased when politics decides what counts as a priority.

The window is closing, and your voice is the lever

Here is the part that matters most, so read closely.

This is a proposed rule, not yet final. By law, the government has to open it for public comment and consider what comes in before it can move forward. That comment period closes on July 13. The budget office wants this finalized by October. With little chance of Congress stepping in, public comment is the main path we have to push back, and every comment becomes part of the permanent legal record.

That means your words carry real weight. Not a like, not a repost, an actual comment on the record.

Here is how to make yours count:

1. Go to regulations.gov docket number OMB-2026-0034-0001 https://www.regulations.gov/document/OMB-2026-0034-0001
2. Click the button to submit a comment.
3. Write in your own words. Personal, specific comments matter far more than copied form letters. Say who you are, why federally funded health research matters to you or your community, and what you stand to lose if politics decides which studies get funded. If you or someone you love has been touched by a condition that research helped uncover or treat, say so.
4. Submit before the deadline on July 13, 2026.

It takes ten minutes. Generations of Black women fought for the right to be seen by science at all. Spending ten minutes to defend that is the least we can do, and right now it is one of the most powerful things we can do.

This is the assignment

We have been here before, in different forms, in every era of this work. People in power decide our health is not a priority, and we organize, we testify, and we refuse to disappear. This is that moment again, with a calendar attached to it.

Add your voice before July 13. Forward this to three women who need to know. And remember why this fight is worth it. Our health is our power, and the truth about our bodies is worth protecting from anyone who would rather we stop asking the question.

Learn more and submit your comment at regulations.gov, docket OMB-2026-0034-0001, before July 13, 2026.