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EVERYTHING
First Lady Jill Biden Announces Another $500 Million for Women’s Health Research
What: First Lady Jill Biden announced *another* $500 million for women’s health research at the Clinton Global Initiative, in addition to the commitments the White House has already outlined with the Initiative on Women’s Health Research.
Why it matters: “The Defense Department money will fund research on conditions such as ovarian cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and musculoskeletal injuries and how they impact women differently.”
Source: The Hill
MENSTRUATION
What Period Blood Can Reveal About Women’s Health
What: A deep-dive podcast from WBUR on how menstrual blood can “unlock health secrets beyond the female reproductive system.”
Why it matters: Period blood has been under-researched for years, but the women interviewed—including Dr. Bethany Samuelson Bannow, doctor and researcher at Oregon Health and Science University who specifically researches the anti-coagulant properties of menstrual fluid, and Dr. Sara Naseri, founder of Qvin, which makes a diagnostic menstrual pad called QPad—are changing the game.
Source: WBUR
ABORTION ACCESS
Former Reagan Official: ‘Trump’s View: He Should Get To Do What He Wants to Women’
What: Bill Kristol, a former Republican official for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush, isn’t someone I quote much on women’s health. But today he called out Donald Trump for repeatedly and nonsensically saying women will simply stop thinking about abortion if he’s president again.
Why it matters: As Bill put it – “Last night, at a rally in Pennsylvania, [Trump] told women that ‘You will be protected, and I will be your protector.’ He also informed them they ‘won’t be thinking about abortion.’ This was a follow-up to Trump’s social media post late last week, in which he asserted, in all caps, that if he wins ‘WOMEN WILL BE HAPPY, HEALTHY, CONFIDENT AND FREE!’ He went on, speaking directly to women, ‘YOU WILL NO LONGER BE THINKING ABOUT ABORTION.’ So says a man who famously stated, ‘when you’re a star, they let you do it,’ who was found liable for sexual abuse, who repeatedly boasts of overturning Roe. But this is Trump’s view: He should get to do what he wants to women. He should also get to tell women what to think. And of course women should be grateful to their beneficent guide and protector. Trump’s followers share this view.”
Source: The Bulwark
Pregnancy Criminal Charges Soared After Roe Fell
What: Over 200 women faced criminal charges for charges associated with pregnancy between June 2022 and 2023, the most cases seen by Pregnancy Justice in decades of tracking.
Why it matters: “’Dobbs certainly has unleashed a proliferation of old and new abortion laws, which are fundamentally criminal laws,’ Lourdes A. Rivera, president of Pregnancy Justice, said at a media briefing on Tuesday. While these laws have had serious impacts on reproductive health, they haven’t led to direct prosecution of pregnant women very often, she said. ‘However, if we focus only on abortion laws, we miss a crucial part of the picture, and the fact that pregnant individuals are being criminalized for allegedly endangering their own pregnancies, for pregnancy loss, and in some cases for conduct related to abortion. Prosecutors don’t need to rely on specific criminal abortion laws to prosecute pregnant women.’”
Source: CNN
CARDIOVASCULAR
High Blood Sugar in Youth Leads to Greater Pregnancy Complication Risk
What: Researchers found that having prediabetes (abnormally high blood sugars) in youth could lead to “an 18 percent increased risk of hypertensive disorders during pregnancy, such as gestational hypertension and preeclampsia, or preterm delivery.”
Why it matters: “’The lack of uniform preconception prediabetes treatment guidelines for adolescents may represent a missed opportunity to avert pregnancy-related complications,’ said corresponding author Katharine McCarthy, PhD, MPH… ‘Our results support expanded preconception hemoglobin A1c screening as a mechanism to intervene on excess cardiometabolic risk earlier in the life course.’”
Source: The Mount Sinai Hospital
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