RFK Jr.'s 'Autism Registry' Plan Sparks Backlash

The federal government's purported plan to track Americans who have autism, which social media users have referred to as an "autism registry," has been heavily criticized.

On Tuesday, CBS News reported that the National Institutes of Health—a body within the Department of Health and Human Services, which is headed by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—was overseeing the launch of a registry to measure Americans with autism amid a wider plan to collect patient data for autism research.

Newsweek was not able to independently verify CBS News' reporting and has contacted the NIH for comment.