|
EVERYTHING
Federal Workers Fired While Pregnant Face Extraordinary Challenges
What: NBC talked to a half dozen pregnant federal workers who lost their jobs due to Elon Musk’s indiscriminate DOGE firings. One is Emily Erroa, who was eight months pregnant when she was fired from her job in HR for the Department of Energy. First she was told she was being fired, then she was told she wasn’t, only to learn, once again, that she was losing her job. That experience sent her to the hospital, worried that the stress had triggered early labor. She has since had to move from Texas to Missouri to be closer to family for help.
Key line: “Gracie Lynn, 32, was recently fired from her job at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Lynn, who lives in Eugene, Oregon, and said she had been seeing a maternal fetal specialist over concerns of a potential heart issue for the baby, was immediately worried she would face thousands of dollars of additional bills. She said the doctors think the baby will be fine, but it took the federal government two weeks to give her the paperwork that allowed her to apply for temporary continuation of coverage for health care.”
Source: NBC News
Texas Dems Push Bills to Examine Maternal Deaths
What: Texas Democrats are filing bills to end the dystopian freeze on analyzing the deaths of pregnant women in their state. The legislation would allow Texas’ maternal mortality committee to review abortion-related deaths, remove some redaction requirements, and have Texas rejoin a federal maternal deaths tracking system.
Key line: “’Texas says it’s a pro-life state. I don’t think we’ll be able to wave a magic wand and totally eradicate maternal mortality,’ said Houston Rep. Lauren Ashley Simmons, a Democrat. ‘But as much as we can ensure we’re taking this seriously and tracking these numbers, that’s a low bar that I hope and think we can clear this session.’”
Source: Texas Tribune
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Keeping the Landmark Camden Study Alive and Well
What: Two researchers from Rutgers have given new life to the Camden Study, a dataset of over 4,700 women during pregnancy and beyond, conducted between 1985 and 2006. The data is unique because it focused on historically underrepresented populations: 45% of participants were Hispanic, 38% were Black, and 17% were white. Nearly 100% were Medicaid recipients, and many were teenagers during their pregnancy. The data was maintained by Prof. Xinhua Chen at Rowan Univiersty, but as Chen approached retirement, she wasn’t sure what would happen to the repository of information. The Rutgers researchers– Zorimar Rivera-Núñez and Emily Barrett—got Rutgers to take over the eight freezers worth of specimins and a “mountain” of data.
Key line: “The collection houses so much data that even after extensive publications from the original research team, much of it has never been fully mined and analyzed. For example, with 13 designated Superfund sites in Camden County, the cohort provides a resource for studying environmental exposures and pregnancy outcomes, an area that has received little attention to date. The biorepository also offers unique opportunities to apply modern analytical techniques to historical samples. The ability to tease valuable information from both data and tissue samples has advanced greatly since researchers first analyzed the Camden data.”
Source: Rutgers University
BIRTH CONTROL
One Hundred Years of Birth Control History
What: WNYC had Elaine Tyler May, a professor from the University of Minnesota and author of a book on the birth control pill, on to talk through the past hundred years of birth control history in America, from Margaret Sanger battling then postal inspector Anthony Comstock to current threats to access today.
Key line: “The FDA approved the oral contraceptive in 1960, and almost immediately, women, millions of women, were using the birth control pill. It took about two to three years before Catholic women were using the pill to the same degree as non-Catholic women, because [some state level bans] against any kind of contraceptive method was still in effect in that time frame, but the eagerness to take advantage of an opportunity to control reproduction was across the board with women from all backgrounds.”
Source: WYNC
METABOLISM + WEIGHT LOSS
FDA Says No More Compounded Weight Loss Drugs
What: The FDA has officially agreed that the drug shortage around GLP-1 weight loss drugs has ended, meaning the tens of thousands of Americans taking lower cost “compound” versions of the drugs (often because insurance won’t cover the brand names) will have to find another source in the coming weeks.
Key line: “The FDA says state-licensed compounding pharmacies must immediately stop making compound versions of GLP-1 drugs. Larger, national licensed facilities making compound versions of Zepbound have until March 19 to stop, according to the FDA. For Wegovy, larger, national licensed facilities have until May 22, to stop making compound versions, according to the FDA.”
Source: ABC News
|
