By Teon Hayes

Excerpt:

For more than fifty years, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) has been a critical lifeline for millions of pregnant and postpartum people, infants, and young children. The federal program provides healthy food, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and connections to healthcare. WIC helps families build healthier beginnings during some of life’s most vulnerable moments.

But behind the program’s success, a troubling shift is taking place: The number of people receiving assistance through the program has dropped.

Between October 2025 and February 2026, WIC participation declined by nearly 250,000 people, according to a new report by the National Center for Children in Poverty. Every group served by the program shrank, whether it was for pregnant people, breastfeeding mothers, infants, postpartum people, or young children. Programs serving children ages one to four experienced the largest decline.

While participation ticked up slightly for some groups in March, those modest gains recovered only a small fraction of the total lost participation.

Why are so many families dropping away from a program that we know works? These families did not suddenly stop needing WIC. Rather, they encountered new barriers to accessing it. For many immigrant families, fear of immigration enforcement, spurred by public charge policies from the Department of Homeland Security, has created a chilling effect that keeps eligible families from receiving the help they need…

Read the full op-ed in The Progressive here.

Note: this commentary was republished in many other media outlets including Chattanooga Times Free Press in TN; Wichita Eagle in KS; Herald Enquirer in Charlotte, NC; The Island Packet in Beaufort, SC; The Modesto Bee in CA; Lexington Herald-Leader in KY; The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, SC; Fort Worth Star-Telegram in TX; The State in Columbia, SC; The Olympian in Washington; The Bellingham Herald in WA; Idaho Statesman; The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, SC; Merced Sun-Star in CA; and The News & Observer in Raleigh, NC.