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one zombie law down

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

  • The good news: Arizona Democrats got three Republicans to join them to repeal the state’s zombie 1864 abortion ban law. The bad news: some Supreme Court justices seem to think airlifting sick, pregnant women from Idaho to states that perform abortions is fine.
     
  • The FDA cleared a new (to the United States) antibiotic specifically to fight UTIs in women.
     
  • A Deloitte survey found 40% of women report working through “high” menstrual or menopausal pain

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Everything
Fertility
Menstruation
Abortion Access

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

EVERYTHING

FDA Clears New (to America) Antibiotic for UTIs

What: The FDA approved a new antibiotic to treat urinary tract infections in women, although the drug has been used in Europe for more than 40 years.

Why it matters: The approval gives “U.S. health providers a powerful new tool to combat a common infection that is increasingly unresponsive to the existing suite of antimicrobial drugs.”

Source: New York Times

FERTILITY

Ten Years on the Fertility Cycle

What: In an essay shared in honor of National Infertility Week, writer Lisa McCarty tells her arduous, ten-year journey to having two children. It included four embryo transfers and four miscarriages to have her second child.

Why it matters: It’s a reminder of how challenging the process can be, and how far science has to go in understanding reproductive health.

Source: Today.com

MENSTRUATION

Forty Percent of Women Report Working Through High Menstrual Pain

What: Journalist and author Shalene Gupta reminds us that unequal pay “is not the only way inequality manifests” among men and women in the workplace. Gupta points to a Deloitte survey that found 40% of women with high menstrual or menopausal pain just work through it. And 20% of women with fertility challenges who had to take time off from work feel like it hurt their careers.

Why it matters: Information like this—a baseline to even know where we are starting from—is a step towards having the conversations needed to address these challenges.

Source: Fast Company

ABORTION ACCESS

Justices Split on Laws that Lead to Airlifting Sick Pregnant Women Out of Idaho

What: Supreme Court justices seemed split mainly along ideological lines during oral arguments over a federal requirement that hospitals provide emergency care to stabilize a patient, including abortions when necessary.

Why it matters: If the court rules that states can override this federal law, it means more women will suffer or die unnecessarily. Justice Samuel Alito today said those arguments were hypothetical, but the government’s main lawyer put that notion to rest: “Today, doctors in Idaho and the women in Idaho are in an impossible position. If a woman comes to an emergency room facing a grave threat to her health, but she isn’t yet facing death, doctors either have to delay treatment and allow her condition to materially deteriorate or they’re airlifting her out of the state so she can get the emergency care that she needs.”

Source: New York Times
 
Arizona Dems Get Three Republicans to Join Them, Repeal Abortion Ban

What: The third time was the charm for Arizona state House Democrats, who got three Republicans to join them in repealing the 1864 total abortion ban that was set to go into effect in the coming weeks.

Why it matters: The bill will head to the state senate and get a vote next week, where the repeal is expected to pass. The governor will quickly sign it, but due to a quirk in Arizona state law that delays repeals until three months after the legislative session ends, the ban may still take hold for a few weeks or months.

Source: NBC