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EVERYTHING
Trump Again Says He Is a Protector of Women, Despite Americans Dying from Abortion Bans
What: Donald Trump again said he would be the “protector” of women at a rally tonight. Wearing a neon vest to play pretend as a garbage man because he views America as a “garbage can” due to immigration, Trump said his advisers warned him against calling himself the protector of women. Perhaps that is because women are dying due to his proudly killing Roe vs. Wade? Or it could be the dozens of credible sexual assault accusations (and a judgement in New York) made against him.
Key line: “They said ‘we think it’s very inappropriate for you to say so.’ I said ‘Why? I’m president, I want to protect the women.’”
Source: Twitter
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Moms Using Marijuana During Pregnancy Don’t Know About Negative Side Effects
What: A study of over 4,000 pregnant moms found that just under 6% reported using marijuana while they were pregnant. Of that group, 70% did not associate using marijuana with any negative side effects, even though it can be associated with preterm labor and low birth weight.
Key line: “’Long story short, this is a very vulnerable population, and evidence shows that during pregnancy, marijuana use is detrimental for both mother and child,’ [lead researcher Mohammad Rifat] Haider said. ‘There needs to be policy direction from the state to have these discussions.’”
Source: University of Georgia
ABORTION ACCESS
Another Mother Dead Thanks to Abortion Bans
What: Abortion bans has killed another woman, this time a 28-year-old mom in Texas. Josseli Barnica was excited to be pregnant with her second child but suffered a miscarriage at 17 weeks. Instead of helping the miscarriage progress, doctors let her suffer for 40 hours because her fetus still had a heartbeat. That was plenty of time for infection to enter her uterus, which killed her 3 days later.
Key line: “Barnica is one of at least two Texas women who ProPublica found lost their lives after doctors delayed treating miscarriages, which fall into a gray area under the state’s strict abortion laws that prohibit doctors from ending the heartbeat of a fetus. Neither had wanted an abortion, but that didn’t matter. Though proponents insist that the laws protect both the life of the fetus and the person carrying it, in practice, doctors have hesitated to provide care under threat of prosecution, prison time and professional ruin.”
Source: ProPublica
MENOPAUSE
The Menopause Treatment Messaging Conundrum
What: The New York Times has a deep dive on the queen of menopause, Dr. Mary Claire Haver, and her push to get more women treatment for menopause symptoms. The piece goes into how she has helped bring awareness to the lack of training and treatment, but also the controversy around some of her prescriptions, including supplements that lack evidence.
Key line: “…in recent weeks, the Menopause Society has taken steps to try to discourage physician-influencers and their followers in the medical community from routinely making recommendations that don’t align with its guidelines: On Sept. 30, the group released a statement to its members, which include Dr. Haver, urging clinicians to stick to the script. A few hours later, Dr. Haver posted on Instagram about the danger of ‘weaponizing guidelines’ against women to deny them essential care. She later deleted the post. ‘I probably overreacted,’ she told me. … ‘Maybe my messaging isn’t perfect all the time,’ she said. ‘But I take the negative, and I say, ‘How can I do better?’’ And then, she added, ‘I keep going.’”
Source: New York Times
ONCOLOGY
To Prevent the Cancer from Returning
What: An essay from Rachel Manteuffel on her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment that manages to be funny while also tackling the wrenching choice to have chemotherapy or not after a mastectomy, when it only presented her a 2% reduction in dying from cancer over the next 10 years. Somehow, she manages to artfully tie it to the election and the choice all Americans must make November 5.
Key line: “At that point, all the treatments we have for them wouldn’t work as well as they would right now. Cancer would — maybe! — be back, in more places, knowing more about how to beat our defensive mechanisms. Cancer, once defeated, is a bad actor who lurks and fumes and tends to return, say, four years later. Older. Angrier. More … malignant. … Another way to think about chemo is that if a hundred people like me choose it, two of us will be saved. There’s a big day in November, circled on my calendar, when the whole nightmare will finally be over, the whole threat gone. All the people who worked against this cancer will accomplish collectively with our votes more than any individual ever could. We will win. I hope. I hope.”
Source: Washington Post
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