Biden Announces Executive Actions to Expand Research on Women’s Health

President Biden on Monday announced executive actions to expand the federal government’s research into women’s health, including midlife conditions like menopause, arthritis and heart disease, as well as issues specifically affecting women in the military.

In what the White House described as the “most comprehensive” action by a president on women’s health research, Mr. Biden on Monday will sign an executive order directing federal agencies to ensure they are using federal funds to research health conditions and diseases that disproportionately affect women. The actions come after Mr. Biden late last year said that the first lady, Jill Biden, would spearhead an initiative to address the underrepresentation of women in health research.

“For far too long women’s health research has been underfunded and understudied,” said Dr. Carolyn M. Mazure, a psychologist and a professor at the Yale School of Medicine, who is the chairwoman of the White House initiative on Women’s Health Research. “We still know too little about how to effectively prevent, diagnose and treat a wide array of health conditions in women.”

Dr. Mazure said those conditions could include heart disease, Alzheimer’s or fibroids. Dr. Biden has traveled the country to learn about such disparities and “the cutting-edge research that is possible when we invest in women’s health,” Dr. Mazure said.

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in 2022 and an Alabama State Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos should be considered children, threatening in vitro fertilization, the Biden campaign has increasingly accused Republicans of undermining women’s health. During his State of the Union address earlier this month, Mr. Biden said such decisions would