Biden Administration Timeline: Science and Evidence Guiding Policy and Funding

After the damage caused by the previous administration, the Biden-Harris administration must do more than reverse harmful policies –– it must also restore and advance rights. In that vein, Equity Forward developed a series of transition recommendations to inform a range of policies on science, reproductive health, and human rights issues. Many of these recommendations were developed in collaboration with broader coalitions supporting the sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice movements, as well as the broader human rights sphere and groups working to protect science and evidence-based policymaking.

Building on our timeline of policy changes within the Biden-Harris administration’s first 100 days, this fact sheet chronicles a timeline of the administration’s progress in ensuring that science and evidence, not political ideology, guides public health policies. This timeline also includes policies and actions taken to ensure that federal research funding is driven by science, not ideology. For example, we are tracking policies such as the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) lifting of the federal ban on research using fetal tissue, and the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) review of mifepristone, a common type of medication abortion. Equity Forward is also tracking the Biden-Harris administration officials creating and implementing these policies. This research is featured on HHS Watch and Global Spotlight.

This fact sheet was originally published on June 30, 2021; its timeline is periodically updated.