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EVERYTHING
Amber Thurman Is Dead Thanks to Georgia’s Abortion Ban
What: Amber Thurman, a 28-year-old mother of 6-year-old, is dead. The Georgia woman died because she could not get routine abortion care in her state. Instead, she had to travel to North Carolina, where she ended up getting abortion pills when traffic made her miss her appointment. Then, back home, she bled–too much, so she went to the ER. Doctors debated and delayed for *20 hours* what to do with her while sepsis took hold. By that point, it was too late.
Why it matters: “Tasked with examining pregnancy-related deaths to improve maternal health, the experts, including 10 doctors, deemed hers ‘preventable’ and said the hospital’s delay in performing the critical procedure had a ‘large’ impact on her fatal outcome. Their reviews of individual patient cases are not made public. But ProPublica obtained reports that confirm that at least two women have already died after they couldn’t access legal abortions and timely medical care in their state. There are almost certainly others.”
Source: ProPublica
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Pregnancy Brain: It’s Real and It’s Finally Mapped
What: It’s 2024 and we are just getting a comprehensive map of how the brain changes (in significant ways!) during pregnancy. A UC Irvine professor had brain imaging done three weeks before embryo implantation through two years after her child’s birth. They found “decreases in gray matter volume and cortical thickness [that] could point toward an idea that for the maternal brain, ‘it looks like less really may be more,’ Pawluski said. ‘It’s potentially becoming more efficient.’ The increase in white matter microstructure, on the other hand, could mean ‘an increase in the exchange of information and communication between different brain areas.’”
Why it matters: While the practical implications of these brain changes are TBD, the reason why it took this long to get this research isn’t. As Prof. Emily Jacobs, a senior author on the study, put it: “It’s not because women are too complicated. … It’s a byproduct of the fact that the biomedical sciences have historically ignored women’s health. It’s 2024, and this is the first glimpse we have at this fascinating neurobiological transition.”
Source: CNN
ABORTION ACCESS
How Trump Could Ban Abortion Nationwide—Without Congress
What: Scientific American’s Meghan Bartels has a good deep dive on exactly how the 1873 law known as “Comstock” could be used to ban abortion nationwide, without a vote in Congress. And if Donald Trump wins, his likely officials have already said via Project 2025 that they want to do that.
Why it matters: “Now antiabortion activists argue that, without the protection of Roe v. Wade, the text of the Comstock Act ought to be taken literally and that, even today, mailing abortion medications is illegal, with no exceptions, including when a pregnant person’s life is in danger. …Right now, the only thing blocking the law is the executive branch: the Food and Drug Administration has stood by its 2021 decision to make mifepristone available by mail, and the Department of Justice has concluded that because every state allows legitimate medical uses of the drugs, including for abortion, senders can’t know that abortion pills will be used illegally. But neither measure is binding: if Trump wins November’s presidential election, his Department of Justice could enforce a new, strict interpretation of the Comstock Act.”
Source: Scientific American
Hospital Penalties Rare for Denying Pregnant Patients
What: The Associated Press investigates the office tasked with holding accountable hospitals that refuse or fail to treat pregnant women who need care. They found that “just a dozen hospitals have been fined for refusing to treat patients — pregnant or not — over the past two years, an Associated Press analysis of civil monetary penalties issued by the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found. It took years for the government to decide those penalties.”
Why it matters: “After a complaint against a hospital is filed, a state surveyor investigates the hospital. A physician and the federal government review the findings to determine whether or not a patient received inadequate treatment. If an emergency room violated the federal law, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may refer the case to the HHS inspector general to consider penalties. Those investigations are ‘slow, insufficiently staffed, with a lot of pushback tolerated from hospitals,’ Rosenbaum, an expert on the law, said.”
Source: Associated Press
MENOPAUSE
Menopause At Work? There’s a Plan for That.
What: The New York Times looks at menopause in the workplace, and how the physician leading the Menopause Society went from thinking “that asking for additional provisions for women would fuel more gender discrimination — if women required special treatment, employers would have more reason to not hire or promote them” to building a plan: a study that showed “women were missing work — $1.8 billion worth of working time each year. Some quit altogether because of menopause.”
Why it matters: “Today, the Menopause Society rolled out an initiative providing employers with guidance on how to support women going through menopause. It includes tips for managers to talk about menopause at work and policies employers can consider, like ensuring that the health care plans they offer cover treatment options for menopause symptoms. The program, called Making Menopause Work, also provides suggestions for making it easier for menopausal employees to get through the workday, like flexible bathroom breaks for those dealing with unpredictable or heavy bleeding, and improving ventilation and using uniforms made with breathable fabrics so that hot flashes are less uncomfortable.”
Source: New York Times
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