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french babies, snail slime, and the power of the HPV vaccine

the top things to know in women’s health and wellness today:

  • The French president’s proposal for getting more French babies? Give 25-year-olds free fertility tests. 👀
     
  • Every women in Scotland born between 1988-96 and who got the HPV vaccine between ages 12 and 13 was protected from cervical cancer. In other words: it works exceptionally well.
     
  • How does snail slime keep tricking smart women? We loved this self-described 73-year-old with decades in the beauty biz’s column on the question. 

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Fertility
Birth Control
Abortion Access
Oncology
Wellness + Beauty

TOP STORIES TODAY: the most important reads we’ve found, and why they matter.

FERTILITY

French President: We’ll Give 25-Year-Olds Free Fertility Tests

What: Like many countries, France has a declining birthrate. But President Emmanuel Macron is taking an unusual approach to it, using his first prime-time address to the country since creating a new government to call infertility a “scourge” and outline a plan to increase the birthrate, including giving 25-year-old women free fertility checks.

Why it matters: Not shockingly, the proposal was met with swift criticism, with some women saying “the government shouldn’t be pressuring them to think about fertility so early. And women’s rights groups complained the French government should be focused on doing more to make it more affordable to have children.”

Source: Washington Post
 
BIRTH CONTROL

What the Biden Administration Is Doing to Make Birth Control Cheaper + Preserve Emergency Abortion Access

What: The Washington Post breaks down what the Biden administration has been up to this week to “boost access to contraception and emergency abortions.” It includes a lot more guidance for hospitals on what they need to do to meet federal guidelines on emergency medicine when an abortion is necessary to protect a mother’s life.

Why it matters: Women are and will continue getting sick and dying in states that have fully banned abortions.

Source: Washington Post

ABORTION ACCESS

How Banned Abortions Impact OBGYNs, Too

What: OBGYNs talk about what prompted them to study their fellow colleagues and how the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade affected their practices and their own psychological state.

Why it matters: The physicians describe carrying an emotional burden after treating patients who are, in one case described by an OBGYN, 14-years-old and pregnant due to incest. Or the questions they have to ask themselves in emergency situations, as one doctor put it: “Is a 5% risk of death enough? Does it take 20%? Does it take 50%? What is enough legally?”

Source: Medscape

ONCOLOGY

HPV Vaccine Has Perfect Record Protecting Scottish Women in Study

What: A large study of Scottish women born between 1988-96 who were vaccinated against HPV between the ages of 12 and 13 found none of the women got cervical cancer. In other words: the vaccine worked exceptionally well.

Why it matters: This is the first time a national group of women was tracked over a long period of time and there were zero cases of cervical cancer identified.

Source: Stat

WELLNESS + BEAUTY

Snail Slime, Smart Women, and the Power of Marketing

What: This self-described “73-year-old woman with decades of experience in the beauty industry” ponders that eternal question: “Why do extremely smart women continue to fall for beauty marketing? Relatedly, are we placing our faith in snail slime?”

Why it matters: Marketing works, but remember the golden rule: “The most important product you can put on your skin? Sunscreen, because around 90 percent of skin aging is due to sun exposure.”

Source: New York Magazine