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FERTILITY
Can a Pill Extend Fertility and Delay Menopause?
What: A small study at Columbia University is looking at whether a drug used to treat kidney transplant patients could also help safely extend female fertility for five years. They’ve seen some success.
Why it matters: “These early results mean we now have a clear shot at our ultimate goal: using rapamycin to extend the lifespan of the ovary and thereby delaying the menopause, while also extending the lifespan of the woman and improving her health and quality of life,” the study’s lead author said.
Source: Women’s Health
Is Egg Freezing Broken?
What: Bloomberg’s Kristen Brown weaves her own fertility journey into a new podcast, Misconception.
Why it matters: “Before I decided to freeze, I wanted to see whether the reality lived up to the marketing hype. I’ve spent the past two years digging into the fertility industry and what I found surprised me. When it comes to egg freezing, it turns out most women shell out thousands of dollars and endure a brutal procedure only to never use their eggs.”
Source: Bloomberg
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Pregnancy Nose: Is It Real?
What: USA Today delves into some viral TikTok videos on “pregnancy nose” to find out if it’s a real symptom of having a baby. It is a thing – the experts they consulted say it’s caused by increased body fluids and hormonal changes that “can also cause the blood vessels in the nose to dilate.”
Why it matters: The videos have millions of views, and have (inevitably) led to rude comments on women’s bodies…while they are busy building another human.
Source: USA Today
ABORTION ACCESS
When Kamala Made the Injustice of Abortion Bans Clear In One Question
What: Monica Hesse at the Washington Post reminds us of a notable moment in presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ career. It came during questioning of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh, as Harris was trying to elicit his position on abortion:
“’Can you think of any laws,’ she asked the nominee, ‘that give the government the power to make decisions about the male body?’” Kavanaugh hemmed and hawed, but Harris pinned him down. Kavanaugh eventually said: “I am not thinking of any right now.”
Why it matters: “The health and personal choices of women were monitored, restricted and regulated by the government in ways that men could not begin to imagine — in a way that Kavanaugh himself had clearly not begun to imagine, considering how long it took him to grasp Harris’s question. And if he would not articulate a position, then she would at least make him articulate the injustice.”
Source: Washington Post
Forced C-Sections Wil Kill Women
What: Jessica Valenti writes a personal essay on her own experience with an emergency c-section, and how states with strict abortion bans are trying to force doctors into performing these procedures in an effort to argue that abortion is never needed for health purposes. (Of course, c-sections are far riskier for women.)
Why it matters: “Anti-abortion lawmakers and activists are so desperate to divorce abortion from health care, they’d prefer to see us dead than allow critically ill women to get care they disagree with. I mean that literally. This is how they kill us. With the sly shifting of medical standards and surreptitiously-placed legislative language. Because while these people are cruel, they’re certainly not stupid. Anti-abortion extremists know the only way to normalize medical torture is to move quietly and slowly.”
Source: Abortion, Every Day
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