Tonight: how a White House press conference kept a trusted medication from thousands of pregnant women, what your mammogram might already know about your heart, (yet) more data showing abortion ban states are losing future doctors, and more.

— Meghan McCarthy

THE PRESIDENT IS A BAD PRESCRIBER // Last September President Trump told pregnant women at a White House briefing to avoid Tylenol, claiming without evidence that it causes autism. A new Lancet study tracked what happened next: ER acetaminophen orders for pregnant patients fell 10%, while orders for non-pregnant women didn’t change. Untreated fever in pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, neural tube defects, and preterm birth; the researcher who led the study called it “thousands of women not getting pain control or fever reduction when they need it.”

YOUR MAMMOGRAM IS DOING MORE THAN YOU THINK // A study of over 120,000 women found AI analysis can identify “arterial calcification” in routine mammogram images, helping them accurately predict heart attack, stroke, and heart failure risk (even in women under 50.) Nearly 70% of American women have had a mammogram, but fewer than 40% know their own cholesterol levels. Researchers are pushing for FDA review to make this a standard dual-purpose screen.

PERIMENOPAUSE TREATED LIKE AN AFTERTHOUGHT // Nature has a deep dive on how the vast majority of research on hormone therapy was conducted on postmenopausal women — not perimenopausal ones, whose hormones are still fluctuating. The resulting knowledge gap has been filled by an unregulated market of supplements, testosterone protocols, and other treatments with no long-term safety data.

BLOOD PRESSURE, NOT AGE // Life-threatening conditions caused by pregnancy, such as eclampsia, acute kidney failure, and sepsis, increased in the US between 2016 and 2022. The driver isn’t older mothers, but high blood pressure, either during pregnancy or before, and obesity. High blood pressure alone accounted for nearly a third of the total increase. The researchers’ conclusion: if you want to prevent these crises, the time to act is before a woman gets pregnant, not when she’s already on the delivery table.

STATES THAT BAN ABORTION ARE (YET AGAIN) LOSING FUTURE DOCTORS // After Dobbs, applications to residency programs in abortion ban states dropped sharply, particularly for specialties like OBGYN, family medicine, internal medicine, and emergency medicine. The study looked at 24 million applications across more than 4,000 programs and found states with the strictest bans are making themselves harder to staff.

Here are the trends we spotted this week in women’s health, and as always, scroll for the top clicked stories.

• 💉 Women lose more weight on GLP-1s than men. It’s probably biology. A review of nearly 20,000 people found women on GLP-1 drugs lost more weight than men, and sex appeared to be the most meaningful differentiator. Age and race didn’t explain the gap.

• 🔬 ACOG told doctors to stop waiting for surgery to diagnose endometriosis. The nation’s largest OBGYN group updated its guidance, saying symptoms and imaging are enough and a diagnosis doesn’t require surgery. For patients who’ve spent years being dismissed, this is a big deal.

• 🏥 The body that decides which preventive screenings your insurance will cover hasn’t met in a year. The USPSTF has now missed three consecutive meetings, and five members had terms that expired in January, with no replacements. On hold: finalized guidance on self-collected HPV testing, mammogram updates, and colorectal screening guidelines.

TOP CLICKED STORIES THIS WEEK

• Women on GLP-1s lost more weight than men — and it’s likely biology — MedPage Today

• Estrogen patch shortages leave menopause patients without basics — New York Times

• ACOG releases updated endometriosis guidance — Medical Dialogues

• 911 calls from ICE detention center document pregnant women in crisis — ABC News

• Oregon eliminates surprise bills for cervical cancer care — Axios

• Louisiana mifepristone lawsuit could end telehealth abortion nationwide — News from the States

• Hypertensive pregnancy disorders linked to long-term cardiac risk — JAMA Internal Medicine

The CDC releases new maternal mortality numbers. A federal judge is days away from ruling on whether abortion pills can still be mailed. The body that decides which cancer screenings you get for free hasn’t met in a year. And a new study of half a million women has a message for anyone who had a complicated pregnancy.

— Meghan

THE NUMBER THAT WON’T MOVE // The CDC reported 649 maternal deaths in 2024, down slightly from 669 the year before, but roughly where the U.S. stood before COVID spiked the count. Still, Black women died at more than three times the rate of white and Hispanic women. The dip could be “promising,” or just a returns to baseline.

QUIET PARALYSIS // This story is really flying under the radar, but it’s important. CNN reports that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF, they determine which screenings insurers must cover at no cost) has now missed three consecutive meetings. Five of its 16 members’ terms expired in January and haven’t been replaced. What do they need to consider? Finalized guidance on self-collected HPV testing, plus updates to mammogram and colorectal screening guidelines that millions of women rely on for free coverage.

WHAT THE 911 TAPES REVEAL // ABC News obtained emergency recordings from the ICE family detention center in Dilley, Texas, documenting staff calling ambulances for pregnant women and children multiple times a month. That included a three-month pregnant woman who lost consciousness, and another who was seizing. The calls span October 2025 through February 2026. ICE’s own policy says pregnant women generally should not be detained.

YOUR PREGNANCY IS A CARDIAC RECORD // A JAMA Internal Medicine study of more than 500,000 women found that all subtypes of hypertensive pregnancy disorders, including gestational hypertension and preeclampsia, raise long-term cardiovascular risk, but women with superimposed preeclampsia faced nearly three times the risk of a cardiovascular event compared to those with uncomplicated pregnancies. The findings add to growing evidence that pregnancy history belongs in every woman’s cardiac chart — and that most doctors still aren’t asking.

THE PILL STILL IN THE BALANCE // A federal judge in Louisiana is weighing an injunction that would end telehealth prescriptions for mifepristone — no remote appointments, no pills by mail — in all fifty states. About 30% of U.S. abortions were provided via telehealth as of mid-2025. A ruling is expected soon.