It’s official: Donald Trump will be the 45th President of the United States.
While many are still in shock over one of the biggest upsets in recent political history, the most practical observers are already looking ahead to what Trump will do once he’s in office. What will his presidency mean for Americans—and, more specifically, for American women?
Based on what Trump said on the stump, as well as on the positions laid out in the Republican National Committee platform, here’s an educated guess about what women can expect from the next four years:
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Restricted abortion access in certain states
During the final presidential debate last month, Trump, who describes himself as “very pro-life,” promised to nominate Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 reproductive rights decision that protects a woman’s right to end her pregnancy. “That will happen automatically in my opinion, because I am putting pro-life justices on the court,” he said. If the law were overturned, Trump said the decision of whether or not to allow abortions would “go back to the states.”
In March, Trump insinuated that women who receive abortions illegally should be punished. “There has to be some form of punishment,” should the procedure be banned in the U.S., he said in an interview with MSNBC host Chris Matthews.
Trump has also promised to sign the Hyde Amendment into permanent law. The amendment bars the use of certain federal funds to pay for abortion, except in order to save the life of the mother or if the pregnancy arises from incest or rape.
Planned Parenthood defunded
In a letter to pro-life voters, Trump promised to defund women’s health organization Planned Parenthood “as long as they continue to perform abortions.” Instead, he wrote, he would reallocate funding to “community health centers that provide comprehensive health care for women.”
That’s not to say that the next commander-in-chief doesn’t see value in the organization. In February, he noted that “they have millions of women going through Planned Parenthood that are helped greatly”—though he said he would not budge on the abortion issue.
Six weeks of maternity leave
This September, Donald Trump broke with the GOP in a big way by announcing a plan to provide birth mothers and adoptive mothers with six weeks of paid leave. While the proposal is a vast improvement over the U.S.’s current policy (or lack thereof), critics have pointed out that it lags behind paid leave policies in other developed countries.
Trump hasn’t yet specified what rate of their full pay women would receive, although he has said that women’s maternity leave pay would consist of unemployment benefits and has pegged the average weekly payout at $300. In the second quarter of 2016, the median weekly earnings for female full-time wage and salary workers was $744.
The proposal completely leaves out fathers—particularly problematic for men in same-sex relationships.
Tax breaks for child and elder-care
Trump plans to rewrite the tax code to allow working parents making less than $250,000 a year to deduct from their income taxes childcare expenses for up to four children and elderly dependents. He also proposes creating specialized savings accounts—these would have tax-deductible contributions and tax-free appreciation—so that families can “set aside extra money to foster their children’s development and offset elder care for their parents or adult dependents.”
The president-elect also promises to add incentives for employers to provide childcare at the workplace, though he doesn’t specify how.
Little progress on sexual harassment
In an August interview, Trump said that women who are sexually harassed at work have three options: Take action within the company, leave while seeking retribution, or quit.
“I think it’s got to be up to the individual,” said the president-elect, who has himself been accused of sexual harassment (he has denied all allegations). “It also depends on what’s available. There may be a better alternative; then there may not. If there’s not a better alternative, then you stay. But it could be there’s a better alternative where you’re taken care of better.”
When asked what he would want his daughter Ivanka to do if she were harassed, Trump said: “I would like to think she would find another career or find another company if that was the case.”
