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FERTILITY
Clash of States Coming: Some Require Fertility Coverage, Others Believe In ‘Embryonic Children’
What: The Alabama IVF ruling could also “vastly complicate reproductive care in some states that require insurance coverage of fertility treatments and drugs,” Axios reports. There are 21 states plus DC that require certain employers to offer fertility coverage.
Why it matters: Keep in mind this isn’t just a possibility in Alabama. There are 14 (!!!) states with “proposed fetal personhood legislation that recognize embryos from the moment of fertilization as humans with legal rights.”
Source: Axios
POSTPARTUM
Pregnant Women Addicted to Opioids Aren’t Getting the Medications They Need
What: Maternal mortality is on the rise in the United States, and overdoses from opioid drugs are “now a leading cause of death associated with pregnancy and the postpartum period,” writes the American Medical Association. Mortality rates for these overdoses have increased more than 80% between 2017 and 2020. This prompted the AMA to release a plan for state agencies to reduce these deaths. The recommendations include ensuring that pregnant and postpartum women are “supported and not punished” for getting medications that can help treat opioid use disorder.
Why it matters: The TLDR here is that “despite the clear benefit of [medications to treat opioid use disorder], pregnant people continue to face significant barriers to accessing it; only 50–60% of pregnant people in the United States” get the right medications.
Source: AMA
ABORTION ACCESS
Americans Are Confused About Who Actually Gets an Abortion
What: A sociologist thought standard polls don’t capture enough information or nuance on abortion opinions. (Agreed.) So, she conducted in-depth interviews with 217 people, and discovered that most thought women getting an abortion aren’t already mothers and are young white women looking for financial stability before having kids.
The problem? That “vision doesn’t at all match the average person getting an abortion.”
Instead, the average person getting an abortion already has given birth once, and while economics is a consideration, “these tend to be concerns about making ends meet rather than long-term earning potential.” And women seeking an abortion are disproportionately women of color.
Why it matters: It seems important that the public know that most women seeking an abortion already have children and are worried about paying the bills.
Source: Scientific American
METABOLISM + WEIGHT
Oprah Says Farewell to Weight Watchers
What: Oprah sent Weight Watchers stock plummeting after she announced that she is leaving the board of the company. Last year, Oprah shared that she was taking weight loss medication. While the entertainment mogul was a longtime spokesperson for Weight Watchers diet system, taking medication is not necessarily at odds with the company, which has its own weight loss medication concierge platform.
Why it matters: Oprah is planning to “donate the value of her holdings in Weight Watchers to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington in part to ‘eliminate any perceived conflict of interest around her taking weight loss medications.’” Which makes me wonder what comes next…
Source: New York Times
CARDIOVASCULAR
More Pregnancy Complications Can Mean Greater Heart Risk
What: A study looking at over 850,000 Norwegian women’s total pregnancy history by age 40 found that those with multiple pregnancies that had complications also had significantly high odds of dying from cardiovascular disease.
Why it matters: This could suggest a change in clinical practice, with physicians reviewing complete pregnancy history at 40 to “identify high‐risk women early enough for effective intervention, and perhaps even before full emergence of standard cardiovascular disease risk markers.”
Source: Journal of the American Heart Association
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