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BIRTH CONTROL
Permanent Sterilization Jumps Post-Roe (And Keeps Increasing Among Women)
What: NPR dives into a study from JAMA Health Forum that found a significant jump in permanent sterilizations among men and women in the United States after Roe vs. Wade fell. Tubal ligation procedures (getting your tubes tied) doubled and vasectomies tripled from June 2022 to September 2023. And while its anecdotal, doctors interviewed in the piece said they are seeing more younger people and people without children for the procedures.
Why it matters: “Even with that increase, women are still getting sterilized much more often than men. Vasectomies have leveled off at the new higher rate, while tubal ligations still appear to be increasing.”
Source: NPR
ABORTION ACCESS
Biden Reminds Docs They Must Perform Emergency Abortions
What: The Biden administration sent letters to emergency room doctors and hospitals reminding them they “must perform emergency abortions when necessary to save a pregnant woman’s health” after the Supreme Court last week ruled that doctors challenging the federal law didn’t have standing.
Why it matters: “’No pregnant woman or her family should have to even begin to worry that she could be denied the treatment she needs to stabilize her emergency medical condition in the emergency room,’ the letter said… ‘And yet, we have heard story after story describing the experiences of pregnant women presenting to hospital emergency departments with emergency medical conditions and being turned away because medical providers were uncertain about what treatment they were permitted to provide.’”
Source: Associated Press
Can an Abortion Ballot Measure Pass In a Ruby Red State?
What: The New York Times profiles the effort in deep red Arkansas to get a measure on the ballot and passed that guarantees access to abortions. But “polls also show that Arkansas is one of just five states where only a minority believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.”
Why it matters: “The effort has also invigorated new types of volunteers, including obstetricians frustrated by the legal quagmire, women who previously got abortions, retirees who remember gaining the right granted by Roe and young women angry that they don’t have it anymore.”
Source: New York Times
MENOPAUSE
Menopause Sauna Findings…for Mice
What: A study found that older females who had a “daily 30-minute whole-body heat treatment”—like going in a sauna—gained less weight and had an improved use of insulin compared to those that did not. The catch? The study was of older female mice.
Why it doesn’t matter (yet): A successful study conducted in mice can be a first step towards discovering something that truly matters for humans, but it is not a slam-dunk finding. Of course, you wouldn’t be blamed for missing that from the headlines that proliferated shortly after the press release went out.
Source: American Society for Nutrition
Why Don’t We Know About Perimenopause?
What: The Week rounds up the latest coverage on perimenopause in an effort to explain why so many women are “uninformed about this little-discussed stage of life.”
Why it matters: “Many women do not expect to experience menopausal symptoms as early as their 30s, and thus do not link these symptoms to menopause. … Although approximately 2 million women reach menopause every year, “fewer than 1 in 10 physicians treating these individuals feel prepared to do so,” said CNN, citing a study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.”
Source: The Week
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