Censorship, Then and Now

As I was thinking about a topic for this editorial, news and social media outlets exploded with the announcement that employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had been instructed to not use any of seven words or phrases in budget documents (diversity, transgender, fetus, unborn child, vulnerable, evidence-
based, and science-based). To say that this hit a nerve is an understatement. My Twitter feed and email inbox filled with messages of outrage and concern, and I must admit I was swept up in the outpouring of anger. A call went out for editors of nursing journals to write editorials about this, and I was ready to do just that.