Searching for "abortion" on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website now renders a prompt for "adoption," The Hill reported Thursday.
The change ostensibly is one of many that were made to the CDC website — among roughly a dozen other health sites — when it went offline less than a week ago. The CDC removed references to gender identity; transgender people; and diversity, equity, and inclusion from its public health materials last week in adherence to executive orders issued by President Donald Trump.
Clicking on "Also try: adoption" on the CDC's site renders a search result page with myriad CDC articles, including links to families considering international adoption, according to The Hill.
"It's a very strange thing to do because the decision tree around pregnancy is to either continue the pregnancy or not. If the pregnancy is continued, then the decision becomes parenting or not," Meghan Eagen-Torkko, director of the school of nursing at Eastern Michigan University, told The Hill. "There's no point in that when abortion and adoption are on the same branch."
Among other pages removed from the CDC's site last week were HIV testing guidelines for transgender people, recommendations for HIV medication, and resources on LGBTQ+ youth health.
The CDC's vaccine advisory page was also taken down Friday, and when it returned Saturday, references to the mpox vaccine were missing.
A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said in a statement that "all changes to the HHS website and HHS division websites are in accordance with President Trump's Jan. 20 Executive Orders."