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FERTILITY
The Global Fertility Drop Is Here. What Will It Mean for Women?
What: A study of global fertility rates finds the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime has dropped from nearly 5 in 1950 to around 2 in 2021. That number is expected to drop to just under 2 children by 2100.
Why it matters: Dr. Christopher Murray, the author of the study, said dropping fertility rates are partly due to the fact women have more opportunities for education and employment. He also cautioned that there “is a real threat in some governments trying to pressure women to have more children…It’s very easy to go from encouraging women to have more children to being a little bit more coercive.”
Source: CNN
BIRTH CONTROL
Women Are Ditching Birth Control Due to Misinformation
What: The Washington Post has an in-depth feature on misinformation surrounding birth control, particularly on platforms like TikTok, and how it is leading some OBGYNs to raise alarms about the need to fight back.
Why it matters: One OBGYN in the piece said “women frequently come in for abortions after believing what they see on social media about the dangers of hormonal birth control and the effectiveness of tracking periods to prevent pregnancy.” On the flip side of this is right-wing extremists who push “trad wife” (short for “traditional” wife) content that idealizes women who get pregnant and stay home.
My take: More to come on this, but: Women should be able to have quality-of-life questions taken seriously when it comes to birth control, and in the absence of that, snake oil solutions will always arise.
Source: Washington Post
Ozempic Baby: Getting Unintentionally Pregnant on Weight Loss Drugs
What: Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro have led to some women getting pregnant by surprise – even if they are taking birth control and have had fertility issues in the past. There are two major reasons:
1) The weight loss caused by the drugs helps address hormonal issues that can make it more difficult to get pregnant
2) Mounjaro slows down food (and pills!) in the digestive system so much that it can reduce how effective the birth control pill is. (Ozempic also does this, but it doesn’t carry the same warning.)
Why it matters: The warnings associated with getting pregnant on these medications may need to be amplified if data bears this trend out.
Source: USA Today
ABORTION ACCESS
Everything You Need to Know About Medication Abortion Case at SCOTUS
What: Kaiser Family Foundation has an updated policy brief outlining exactly what is at stake in next week’s oral arguments over the abortion pill at the Supreme Court. The brief includes helpful tables of how FDA regulations for mifepristone have changed from 2011 until now, and what the plaintiff’s arguments are versus the government’s.
Why it matters: The brief also rounds up data on medication abortion in the United States, which accounts for 63% of all abortions in the country. And the court’s ruling could restrict when a significant number of people can use mifepristone – 44% of medication abortions occur at 7 weeks or later.
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
CARDIOVASCULAR
Heart Health After Pregnancy Matters for Future Risk
What: An analysis of over 100,000 women in the United Kingdom found those who had an adverse pregnancy outcome had a much higher chance of developing cardiovascular disease later in life. But among that group, those who maintained better heart health-via diet, exercise, and proper sleep–had risk levels similar to women without adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Why it matters: In other words, how women lived after pregnancy really shaped their future health – having an adverse pregnancy outcome was not a cardiovascular death sentence. (However, those who had pregnancy complications AND poor heart health after pregnancy had a 148% increase in getting cardiovascular disease.)
Source: American Heart Association
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