|
FERTILITY
When IVF Doesn’t Work the First or Second Time
What: Annie Daly has an incredible deep dive for Allure on the not-so-typical IVF journey. She chronicles her own IVF cycles, and spoke with “30 other IVF patients, past and present, who’ve had similar experiences. They bravely shared their stories to create clearer pictures of the realities of this process—because there isn’t just one.”
Why it matters: Daly notes that many women have healthy babies after one to two rounds of IVF. But “those aren’t the stories I’m reporting here. As an IVF patient and a journalist, I want to share the stories that I haven’t been able to find—the ones from women who have not been able to conceive, or maintain a pregnancy, after one or two cycles. Everyone I interviewed has gone through multiple failed rounds of IVF; one finally had success on her 11th embryo transfer. Most have spent several years going through treatments, and some—like me—are still doing them today.”
Source: Allure
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Black and Hispanic Women Got Fewer Pain Meds After Birth
What: A Cedars-Sinai study of 18,000 women found “racial and ethnic disparities” in the pain medication patients received after giving birth. They found those disparities “even among patients reporting the highest pain levels.”
Why it matters: “’Even after adjusting our analysis to include non-opioid medications, Black and Hispanic patients who reported the highest pain scores received lower doses of opioid-containing medication. The fact that they also received non-opioid drugs could not explain the lower opioid treatment they received when compared with white patients,’ said Naomi Greene, PhD, principal investigator of the study and an assistant professor of Research in Obstetrics and Gynecology.”
Source: Cedars Sinai
MENSTRUATION
Top 10 (Out of 17 Tested) Ovulation Tests
What: Health magazine has a piece evaluating ovulation test kits and enlisted “nine women [to] test 17 ovulation test kits several times over multiple cycles when possible” to find the best ones on the market.
Why it matters: Health makes some money if you buy one of the tests they listed, but their approach seems legitimate. And as they put it: “If you’re trying to conceive, your best chance at getting pregnant occurs during a quick, 24-hour window that only happens once a month. …Using an ovulation test provides a heads up that your egg is about to drop and you’re entering your peak fertility window.” So you want it to work!
Source: Health
BIRTH CONTROL
The Federal Lawsuit Threatening Free Birth Control (And Much More)
What: KFF Health News breaks down a federal lawsuit that could take down Obamacare requirements that health insurers cover preventive care, cost free. If it’s successful, state-level laws would end up taking effect instead–making birth control coverage all the more confusing.
Why it matters: “It would create an environment ‘in which insurers and employers pick and choose which services they want to cover or which services they want to charge for,’ [Georgetown Law health policy researcher Zachary] Baron said. ‘It would certainly threaten access to care for millions of Americans.’ Studies have shown the requirements to cover preventive care have reduced consumers’ out-of-pocket costs and increased their use of short- and long-term birth control methods.”
Source: KFF Health News
ABORTION ACCESS
Some GOP Members Want *More* Extreme Abortion Platform
What: Republicans passed a party platform that backs making any embryo a person with legal rights, a move that would put abortion, IVF, and certain contraception at risk. But USA Today reports that extreme platform didn’t go far enough for many members of the GOP, who are now worried that Trump is backing down on fully banning abortion and restricting birth control and IVF nationwide.
Why it matters: Trump is an epic liar, so what is on the party platform doesn’t exactly matter—he’ll do whatever is politically expedient to him, women’s lives be damned.
Source: USA Today
|