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FERTILITY
Biden Administration, Senate Dems Talk with IVF Families
What: Xavier Becerra, the top health official in the country, met with women in Birmingham, Alabama, today to hear how the state supreme court’s IVF decisions had overturned their lives. “This is what happens when you take away rights that people had for 50 years — now you find the consequences go way beyond just abortion,” Becerra told ABC News. Over the weekend, White House Gender Policy Council Director Jennifer Klein said the Biden administration would be convening meetings to discuss the repercussions of the IVF decision and discuss tactics at the state level. And the Senate Judiciary Committee announced a hearing would be coming on the “devastating fallout since the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, including recent Alabama IVF ruling.”
Why it matters: It’s not clear what the White House could do on its own to help women in Alabama, and it’s extremely unlikely any federal legislation would pass in the Republican House. But talking publicly helps raise awareness—especially as the election gets closer.
Source: ABC, Senate Judiciary Democrats, The Weekend on MSNBC
Trumpy Think Tank Doubles Down on ‘Embryonic Children’
What: The Heritage Foundation is a Trump-backing “research” group in Washington DC that puts out analyses that often end up getting parroted by Republican lawmakers. They are out with their latest take on Alabama’s IVF decision, and they whole-heartedly support the state supreme court’s decision and call for further regulations. I am highlighting it because it does something all too common – takes a public policy issue that could perhaps benefit from thoughtful legislation–and uses that as an excuse to completely shut down women’s decision making.
Why it matters: It’s also a view into how the public outcry over IVF access hasn’t moved them. Instead, they are using dystopian language like this to describe embryos that consist of 7 to 10 cells: “Embryonic children in Alabama will now be treated with the level of love and care that any parent would want for their child.”
Source: Heritage Foundation
PREGNANCY
Diet Tied to Reduced Preeclampsia Risk in Hispanic Women
What: A study from Keck School of Medicine of USC that focused specifically on low-income Hispanic women in Los Angeles found that women who ate a diet high in “solid fats, refined grains and cheese were four times as likely to develop preeclampsia” than women who ate more vegetables, fruits, oils, whole grains, and yogurt.
Why it matters: The study had a relatively large number of participants (451 women), and 12% developed preeclampsia, double the national average of 6%.
Source: USC
MENSTRUATION
Books That Break the Period Stigma
What: Journalist Shalene Gupta wrote The Cycle, a memoir about being diagnosed with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Gupta describes only realizing that she had “a debilitating condition when I was in my thirties, because I had no idea what a normal period was like.” She writes: “In fact, my entire understanding of what a period was supposed to be like was shaped by a resounding silence. Periods happen off of the page, out of sight, and out of mind. If I went solely by literature, it’d be easy to believe most people didn’t have periods.” Based on that, Gupta recommends seven books, a mix of fiction and nonfiction, about periods that break the mold.
Why it matters: As Gupta said – not talking about periods and what’s normal keeps stigma alive.
Source: Electric Lit
BIRTH CONTROL
House and Senate Dems to Insurers: Cover Birth Control Like the Law Says
What: Congressional Democrats are pushing health insurers to follow the law and provide access to birth control without requiring premiums. They sent a letter to the head of the insurers’ DC lobbying group, specifically calling for insurers to cover every FDA-approved contraception without out-of-pocket costs for patients, even if there is no generic version available.
Why it matters: The National Women’s Law Center “still gets complaints through its hotline from patients who are being forced to pay out of pocket or whose insurance companies are giving flat out denials or providing misinformation about the law’s requirements.”
Source: AMJC
ABORTION ACCESS
The Committee Deciding If Women Live or (Possibly) Die
What: ProPublica has a masterful look at how doctors at Vanderbilt University created a committee to make group decisions on whether women are at risk *enough* to qualify for an abortion in Tennessee. Reporter Kavitha Surana has the granular detail that makes the stakes come alive – including texts and emails between doctors debating a woman whose fetus was developing without a skull at 14 weeks, and whether the risk of death posed by her uterus rupturing due to a build-up of amniotic fluid was enough to proceed. One doctor’s response? They weren’t “brave enough” to go forward.
Why it matters: Seeing the back and forth between physicians makes it clear how little control women have in these decisions, much less their own health care providers.
Source: ProPublica
METABOLISM + WEIGHT
Most Americans Have Heard About Ozempic. Here’s What They Think.
What: Pew Research Center surveyed 10,000 Americans on weight loss drugs and found 75% had heard of Ozempic and Wegovy. A majority, 53% said they were a good option for people with obesity, while 62% said they were not good for people who wanted to lose weight for looks (i.e. aren’t obese or don’t have a weight related health condition.)
Why it matters: Most interesting to me was the large majority, 65%, who said “willpower is not enough to lose weight and maintain a health weight.”
Source: Time
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