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EVERYTHING
There’s Nothing Beautiful About Dead and Maimed Women
What: When the topic of abortion came up in Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate, Democratic nominee Gov. Tim Walz invoked the names of women who have been killed and maimed by the abortion bans Donald Trump put into place–and then called “beautiful.”
Why it matters: As Walz put it — “Donald Trump put this all into motion. He bragged about how great it was when he put the judges in that overturned Roe v. Wade. Fifty-two years of personal autonomy–and then he tells us, oh, send it to the states, it’s a ‘beautiful thing.’ Amanda Zurawski would disagree that it’s a beautiful thing. A young bride in Texas waiting for her child, but at 18 weeks, she has a complication. A tear in the membrane. She needs to go in–the medical care at that point needs to be decided by the doctor. And that would have been an abortion. But in Texas, that would have put them in legal jeopardy. She went home, got sepsis, nearly died, and now she may have trouble having children.”
Source: CSPAN
BIRTH CONTROL
Period Tracking Apps Use 28-Day Cycle, Even Though Many Women Vary
What: Two researchers from Australia are warning that most period tracking apps use a 28-day menstrual cycle to predict ovulation, even though studies have shown that “only 13–16% of women have a 28-day cycle, and only 13% ovulate on day 14. There is also considerable variation month to month. For example, one study showed cycle length varied for more than half of women by five or more days.”
Why it matters: “Some apps rely entirely on the length of the menstrual cycle to make their predictions (known as calendar-based apps). Others also use biometric data, such as daily body temperature, cervical mucous consistency or hormone levels in the urine. These bodily changes directly relate to ovulation, and can therefore increase the accuracy of ovulation predictions. But many apps don’t include this data in their algorithms, even if they record it. And many apps aren’t transparent about how they formulate predictions, and whether they are applicable to most users.”
Source: The Conversation
ABORTION ACCESS
Women Are Not ‘Some Piece of Collectively Owned Community Property’
What: The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus explains why the ruling to strike down Georgia’s abortion ban is meaningful, despite the fact that the Georgia state supreme court will almost certainly reinstate it: “The opinion, by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, is worth paying attention to even if it is destined to be overturned. It offers one of the most compelling and straightforward defenses of the right to abortion that I have encountered in decades of writing about this issue.”
Why it matters: “As a legal matter, ‘Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote,’ McBurney wrote. ‘Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy, even taking into consideration whatever bundle of rights the not-yet-viable fetus may have.’ As a practical matter, McBurney was even clearer about the implications of requiring women to ‘serve as human incubators for the five months leading up to viability.’
… ‘It is not for a legislator, a judge, or a Commander from The Handmaid’s Tale to tell these women what to do with their bodies during this period when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb any more so than society could — or should — force them to serve as a human tissue bank or to give up a kidney for the benefit of another,’ McBurney wrote. ‘… When someone other than the pregnant woman is able to sustain the fetus, then — and only then — should those other voices have a say in the discussion about the decisions the pregnant woman makes concerning her body and what is growing within it.’”
Source: Washington Post
California Sues Catholic Hospital That Sent Women With Potentially Fatal Miscarriage Away
What: California’s Attorney General sued a Catholic hospital in northern California for sending a patient who was 15 weeks pregnant with twins and whose water broke prematurely to another hospital miles away “with the hospital providing her with a bucket and towels ‘in case something happen[ed] in the car’ on the way, the complaint said. By the time she reached the operating room at the second hospital, Nussbaum was ‘actively hemorrhaging,’ according to the lawsuit.
Why it matters: Bonta said California law requires all hospitals to provide emergency abortion care and that Providence St. Joseph violated the state’s Emergency Services Law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the Unfair Competition Law. The attorney general said he also moved for an injunction to guarantee that Providence St. Joseph patients receive prompt emergency abortion care. ‘So even in California, a champion for reproductive freedom, we are not immune from practices like the one we’re seeing today,’ said Bonta. ‘We will not stand by as it occurs. We will take action as we’re doing today and move to end it immediately.’
Source: CBS News
ONCOLOGY
Breast Cancer Cases Increase More in Youngest Women, Asian American Women
What: The overall risk is low, but an American Cancer Society report found women in their 20s saw a more than 2% increase in cases over from 2012 to 2021, compared to a 1% among all women under 50. Asian American/Pacific Islander women under 50 saw a nearly 3% increase.
Why it matters: “The vast majority of breast cancer cases and deaths still occur among older women. But the new study is one of several documenting a troubling uptick in malignancies among younger Americans. These so-called early-onset cancers pose special challenges. Striking in early adulthood or midlife, they tend to be aggressive yet are often missed because they are not expected, and routine screenings are aimed at older adults.”
Source: New York Times
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