|
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Senate Republicans Want to Track Pregnancies, Push Fake Clinics
What: Senate Democrats called out Republicans for proposing a federal pregnancy database that would not only recommend fake clinics that push made-up procedures like “abortion pill reversals,” but would also conveniently give the government a way to track who is pregnant and when.
Why it matters: As Senate Democratic women, led by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), put it: “Senate Republicans want to mandate the creation of an online federal database where women will be encouraged to register their pregnancies with the government in order to push them toward anti-abortion propaganda and dangerous crisis pregnancy centers—this tells us exactly how Republicans will weaponize the whole of government to restrict a woman’s freedom to choose and force them to stay pregnant no matter what.”
Source: Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
Pregnancy Brain Could Actually Be a Good Thing
What: The story of cognitive neuroscientist Liz Chirastil, who made herself a guinea pig in her own experiment by getting 26 MRIs throughout her pregnancy and for two years after. Why? “‘The fact that we don’t know what happens to the brain when someone gets pregnant is remarkable,’ said Chrastil, who is now an associate professor of neurobiology and behavior at the University of California, Irvine. ‘This is a fundamental question.’”
Why it matters: The research found that brain volume overall decreased. “But the strength of the brain’s white matter—the connections that transmit information between brain cells—increased, something that had never before been observed. The findings are the first to reveal the dramatic changes that occur in a woman’s brain across pregnancy and suggest that the adult brain experiences extensive remodeling throughout life.”
Source: Wall Street Journal
BIRTH CONTROL
Long-Acting Birth Control and Coercion
What: A deep dive from Time magazine’s Alana Semuels looks at the use of long-acting contraceptives, such as IUDs and implants, and the women who say they were pressured into using them—and then had a difficult time getting them removed or reversed when they wanted to have children again.
Why it matters: Semuels writes that her reporting “found that doctors are disproportionately likely to push these contraceptives when treating Black, Latina, young, and low-income women, or to refuse to remove them when requested. This pattern, reproductive-justice experts say, reflects the race and class biases plaguing the U.S. medical system and extends a sordid and long-standing history of America’s attempts to engineer who reproduces.”
Source: Time
ABORTION ACCESS
Abortion Approval Hits Historic High
What: American support for abortion reached its highest level ever, with 63% of people saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to the Pew Research Center. Pew has been tracking opinions on abortion since 1995 and the number of people saying abortion should be legal has vacillated from 60% in 1995, to a low of 47% in 2009.
Why it matters: Approval has ticked up, point by point, since the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade.
Source: Pew Research Center
MENOPAUSE
The Menopause Doc with Four Million Followers
What: Mary Claire Haver is an OB-GYN with four million (!!!) followers across social media platforms that she gained by talking about everything menopause—especially on hormone replacement therapy (HRT). She talks up the benefits extensively, but also cautions that it’s not right for everyone in every situation.
Why it matters: As she put it: “Medicine was built for men, sadly. I don’t want to say that there was this ultimate plan to subjugate women in the medical profession, but they were the default, right? And anything that doesn’t happen to a man is abnormal, right? This whole mindset of how [women] are little men with breasts and uteruses has driven medical science research decisions for perpetuity. Women live so long, but 25% of our lives are in poorer health than our male counterparts. So we’re living horrible, painful, very sick lives.”
Source: The Guardian
ONCOLOGY
Olivia Munn on Cancer, Menopause, and Her Future Family
What: Olivia Munn talks to Vogue about her cancer diagnosis, and the decision to fully remove her uterus and ovaries, despite wanting to have more children.
Why it matters: “On March 13th of this year, [Munn] shared her diagnosis on Instagram, encouraging women to use the tool to calculate their own lifetime risk score and schedule doctor appointments (and the call to action worked, with over 23,000 people sharing their stories). When it comes to the future of their embryos, Munn is cautiously optimistic. ‘…But a surrogate isn’t a scary prospect to me anymore because there’s nothing I can do. I don’t have the ability to carry a baby anymore, so if we want to build our family, this is our option.’”
Source: Vogue
|