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FERTILITY
Large Majority of American Women Getting No Fertility Information
What: A survey of 2,000 American women between 18 and 40 found that 70% had never had a conversation with their primary care doctor or OBGYN about their fertility: “According to the survey, reproductive health topics that have been discussed with doctors included birth control pills (46 percent), vaginal health (39 percent) and how menstrual cycles work (33 percent). In comparison, just 5 percent said they spoke to their physician about in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment and 4 percent for intrauterine insemination (IUI) treatments.”
Why it matters: The majority of women in the United States want to have children, and an estimated 11% of women will have fertility problems. We deserve better information.
Source: MSNBC
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
America Once Again Has Highest Maternal Mortality Rate
What: There’s a spirited debate happening around maternal mortality numbers in the United States, and how bad (or not bad, relatively speaking) they are. The Commonwealth Fund is out with a new report today that found, once again, that the “United States continues to have the highest rate of maternal deaths of any high-income nation, despite a decline since the COVID-19 pandemic. And within the U.S., the rate is by far the highest for Black women. Most of these deaths — over 80 percent — are likely preventable.”
Why it matters: “Nearly two of three maternal deaths in the U.S. occur during the postpartum period, up to 42 days following birth. Compared to women in the other countries we studied, U.S. women are the least likely to have supports such as home visits and guaranteed paid leave during this critical time.”
Source: Commonwealth Fund
MENSTRUATION
Spain Gives Time Off for Period Pain. Why Isn’t It Being Used?
What: One year ago, Spain became the first country in Europe to recognize paid menstrual leave. But data “…suggest that relatively few employees have made use of the policy. In the 11 months since the law was introduced, menstrual leave was taken 1,559 times, according to data from Spain’s ministry of inclusion, social security and migration.”
Why it matters: The policy was originally supposed to recognize menstrual pain that can happen to all women, but the “wording of the legislation that was finally passed, however, limited menstrual leave to those with previously diagnosed conditions such as endometriosis, Aterido noted. ‘Menstrual leave is a misnomer because it is really leave due to intense secondary dysmenorrhea that has been diagnosed,’ she said. ‘If you’re not diagnosed, your family doctor can’t sign off on menstrual leave.’”
Source: The Guardian
BIRTH CONTROL
House Democrats Want Vote on Contraception, Too
What: Senate Democrats are set to vote on protecting the right to contraception, and members in the House are following suit. Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), a member of the Democratic leadership, has started a formal petition to force the House, which is run by Republicans, to vote on protecting birth control as well. They need 218 members, a majority of the chamber, to sign on to the petition.
Why it matters: “Even if they fall short again on a discharge petition, Democrats plan to highlight Republicans who refuse to sign on to protect contraception, particularly moderate members up for re-election in vulnerable districts this fall. Or, in the words of another Dem leadership aide: ‘Does the GOP stand for freedom or extremism?’”
Source: NBC
ABORTION ACCESS
Explaining and Examining the Fall of Roe
What: Sarah Jones reviews New York Times reporters Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer’s book on the fall of Roe, which “unfolds like a horror story. Danger lurked outside the cabin door, but the threat was never fully perceived by those who lived within. Dias and Lerer depict a liberal Establishment that behaved as though it had permanently won.”
Why it matters: “In The Fall of Roe, liberalism’s most iconic women are critical failures too. Pantsuit Nation feels like a collective hallucination now. So does the Notorious RBG.”
Source: New York Magazine
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