WASHINGTON — On Friday, President Donald Trump announced his intention to appoint prominent pro-life legislative activist Charmaine Yoest as the new assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Yoest served for years as president and CEO of Americans United for Life, a pro-life law organization that works to coordinate and support the advance of pro-life legislation, particularly at the state level. She is currently a senior fellow at American Values in Washington, D.C.

With a Ph.D. in American government from the University of Virginia, Yoest also served as project director of a national study on paid parental leave in academia. She worked in the White House under President Ronald Reagan in the Office of Presidential Personnel.

In taking the position at Health and Human Services, Yoest will replace Kevin Griffis, who was recently named the new vice president of communications for Planned Parenthood.

During his campaign for president, Trump made several promises to run a pro-life administration. He pledged to nominate pro-life Supreme Court justices; sign into law a ban on late-term abortions; defund Planned Parenthood and reallocate funding to community health centers that do not perform abortions; and make permanent a ban taxpayer funding of abortion.

Upon entering office, he reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which states that foreign non-governmental organizations may not receive federal funding if they perform or promote abortions as a method of family planning. States may now also defund Planned Parenthood.