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Transcript: President Trump & First Lady Melania Trump Sign an Executive Order – Oct 19, 2026

On October 19, 2026, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump signed the Advancing Women’s Health to Improve Outcomes in All Phases of Life Executive Order at the White House. The order creates a new women’s health division within the National Institutes of Health and establishes the White House Women’s Health Task Force, led by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Read the full transcript of the First Lady’s five pillars of women’s health innovation and the President’s remarks below.

Introduction of the President and First Lady

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: The president of The United States, Donald J. Trump, and first lady Melania Trump.

First Lady Melania Trump’s Remarks

MELANIA TRUMP: Good morning. Welcome. Cabinet members, doctors, directors, administrators, and all in attendance today, Thank you for standing behind this important issue.

Please sit down. Now is the time. This is the time. This is a transformative moment for women in America. Beginning today, we will change the reality of women’s health.

Previous generations fought for women’s rights. Our generation will fight to discover the cures that will ensure a woman can live her life in health and to the fullest.

The Advancing Women’s Health to Improve Outcomes in All Phases of Life Executive Order establishes a new standard for women’s health in America. We now possess extraordinary scientific capabilities, such as super intelligence, advanced biotechnology and groundbreaking therapies. At the same time, social norms are changing, and topics that were once taboo are becoming open, well informed, and necessary.

Together, these developments present a unique chance to reinvent women’s health care. We will move our hopes into action, beginning with the distinguished individuals and great minds present here today. This afternoon, the first task force working session will convene.

The Five Pillars of Women’s Health Innovation

MELANIA TRUMP: As you embark on this important work, I ask you to keep in mind the priorities that form my First Lady’s five pillars of women’s health innovation. Start by directing research founding towards finding cures for diseases that affect women in a unique way.

Second, use super intelligence to enhance our understanding of female biology and speed up medical discoveries, all to the benefit of women.

Third, accelerate the process of guiding promising therapies from laboratories to female patients while still keeping strict safety standards.

Fourth, Ensure that medical breakthroughs are accessible and affordable to women regardless of their financial circumstances.

And fifth, replace generations of silence with open conversation, education and compassion.

Our mission must serve women at every stage of life. From young girls just starting out to mothers dealing with a complex range of responsibilities, to mature women who deserve to have vitality, dignity, and independence.

In 2026, medical advances can do more than just prolong life. It should give women the freedom to live life to its fullest, to pursue our dreams, experience love, discover, create, travel, and lead. Today, we establish a new ambition, transforming hardship and pain into scientific discovery, effective treatments and lasting cures.

We are women. We are resilient, capable and deserving of lives defined not by the burdens we carry, but by the possibilities before us. Our health should never be limit the fullness of our lives.

I would like to thank the president for his support and for signing this very important executive order. Thank you. Please welcome the president, Donald J. Trump.

President Trump’s Remarks

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you. Well, thank you very much, everybody. Melania works so hard. You wouldn’t believe it. And she’s accomplished so much in a very short period of time. So I think everybody here very much appreciates the job you do. You don’t need to do it, but you do it. Thank you. Please. Please.

The New Stone Patio, Heliport and Ballroom

DONALD TRUMP: And, if I might, that stone is so beautiful. I’ve been here when we had grass. This is built on a wetland, and the grass was always wet. If it didn’t rain for two weeks, the grass was soaking wet.

And many women have ruined their shoes. And they look at me, and they’ve ruined many, many sets of shoes as we kept trying to have… Use that swamp, and it didn’t work out. And what we did here has just been incredible. It’s become the most popular place to have a news conference, and, I hope you enjoy it.

I even… See the cushions? Those beautiful yellow cushions? They’re supposed to be half an inch high. I said, “How about four inches?” Don’t they feel nice? They don’t make them in four inches. I had them specially made four inches for everybody. So it lifts you up higher and it’s a lot more comfortable than the one inch steel. Well, enjoy it.

And outside, you have the new heliport that just opened. And behind you, you’re going to have one of the greatest ballrooms and military complexes. Very complex situation going on, I will tell you, but it’s on time. It’s actually ahead of schedule, I would say, and it’s going to be the greatest ballroom and the greatest military complex combination that’s ever been built. So it’s very important.

The White House has needed that for a hundred and fifty years. Presidents have been saying, “Please, we gotta have some room.”

We had President Xi recently, and he called with a request of 350 people. In other words, 350 friends or representatives from The United States. I said, “The room’s holes are 125. Three fifty is going to be tough.” So we gave him 10, and, we won’t have that problem anymore.

Then we had King Charles came in. Likewise, he said, “Would it be possible to have 293 people? We have them from The UK, all over The United States. They want to fly in.” I said, “Well, it’s going to be a little positive. It’s about three times more than the room halls. That means I would get none.” So we made a little compromise, but we’re going to have no problem very shortly.