--- title: CDC: No Words Banned From Budget Documents description: The CDC pushed back against a report that the Trump administration banned it from using specific words in next year's budget documents. canonical: https://time.com/5068160/cdc-banned-words-transgender/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-17T21:19:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:50.316Z article:section: Politics og:title: CDC Pushes Back Against Report of Words Like 'Fetus' Being Banned og:description: The banned words reportedly included fetus and transgender og:url: https://time.com/5068160/cdc-banned-words-transgender/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CDC Pushes Back Against Report of Words Like 'Fetus' Being Banned twitter:description: The banned words reportedly included fetus and transgender twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # CDC Pushes Back Against Report of Words Like 'Fetus' And 'Transgender' Being Banned > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=6003bee6-8c7f-4be9-81c2-1b8bdf81f4d5&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump Order Would Ban Most Transgender Troops From Serving [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Order Would Ban Most Transgender Troops From Serving](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NmGodICs.m3u8) (1:34)  _Published 2017-07-26. A federal court in Washington is barring President Donald Trump from changing the government's policy on military service by transgender people._  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Dec 17, 2017 9:19 PM UTC  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Dec 17, 2017 9:19 PM UTC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pushing back against a report alleging that the Trump administration had banned the organization from using specific words in next year’s budget documents. The Washington _Post_ [reported the news](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity/2017/12/15/f503837a-e1cf-11e7-89e8-edec16379010%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.dbcd3315976c) on Friday, citing an analyst who had been briefed on the ban of seven terms, which was confirmed by other CDC officials. The banned words, according to the _Post_ included “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based,” and the reason for the ban was not clarified in the briefing. “I want to assure you there are no banned words at CDC. We will continue to talk about all our important public health programs,” CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald [said in a Facebook post.](https://www.facebook.com/CDC/posts/10155438036741026) “I want to assure you that CDC remains committed to our public health mission as a science- and evidence-based institution. As part of our commitment to provide for the common defense of the country against health threats, science is and will remain the foundation of our work.” The CDC also included a statement from the department of Health and Human Services Department, who called the report a “mischaracterization.” “HHS will continue to use the best scientific evidence available to improve the health of all Americans. HHS also strongly encourages the use of outcome and evidence data in program evaluations and budget decisions,” the organization said. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5068160/cdc-banned-words-transgender/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5068160/cdc-banned-words-transgender/"},"headline":"CDC Pushes Back Against Report of Words Like 'Fetus' And 'Transgender' Being Banned","datePublished":"2017-12-17T21:19:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:53:50.316Z","description":"The Washington Post reported the news on Friday","url":"https://time.com/5068160/cdc-banned-words-transgender/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5068160/cdc-banned-words-transgender/","name":"CDC Pushes Back Against Report of Words Like 'Fetus' And 'Transgender' Being Banned"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trump Order Would Ban Most Transgender Troops From Serving","description":"A federal court in Washington is barring President Donald Trump from changing the government's policy on military service by transgender people.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/NmGodICs/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-07-26T14:36:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NmGodICs.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5068160/cdc-banned-words-transgender/","duration":"PT1M34S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5068160/cdc-banned-words-transgender/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```