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BIRTH CONTROL
Birth Control’s Icon and Idealist
What: The New York Times reviews a double biography of Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett, the women at the forefront of the decades-long fight to make birth control legal and accessible. Sanger is the icon, Dennett the idealist, and the two harbored a “painful, destructive rivalry.”
Key line: “If Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) and Mary Ware Dennett (1872-1947) knew that their nemesis Anthony Comstock, the anti-vice crusader and longtime U.S. postal inspector, still had the power to threaten American women’s reproductive rights in the year 2024, they would be spinning in their respective graves.”
Source: New York Times
ABORTION ACCESS
Trump Waffles on Abortion Pill Ban
What: President-elect Donald Trump waffled on banning the abortion pill in a Time magazine interview, refusing to clearly say that he would not have his administration pursue a nationwide blockage of abortion medication. After being pressed again on not using the FDA to strip access, he said “that would be my commitment.” (Why not just say it directly if it’s true?)
Key line: “Medication abortions account for nearly two-thirds of all abortions nationwide. Anti-abortion groups and some Trump allies see limiting access to abortion pill mifepristone as a top priority in the new term.”
Source: Axios
Where Are All the Baby-Saving Bills?
What: Writer Jill Filipovic picks apart the claim that people pushing abortion bans actually want to save babies. One clear example? State budgets aren’t infinite, and Idaho is choosing to use its limited funds to fight a federal rule that requires a hospital to save a woman’s life by providing an emergency abortion. And they’re doing this even after nearly a quarter of its OB-GYNs have left the state, along with several labor and delivery wards closing.
Key line: “This is why, to me, the argument that abortion is about preserving life and saving babies always feels so dishonest, coming as it does from a political party and movement that does absolutely nothing else to save lives, improve health outcomes or help babies. If that was really the motivation for people who want to ban abortion, wouldn’t we see other efforts to help babies live?”
Source: Jill.Substack.Com
ONCOLOGY
Studies Suggest Breast Cancer Monitoring Versus Surgery
What: Two major studies on breast cancer treatment came out today, both finding that women may need less surgery. The first randomly assigned nearly 1000 women who had DCIS, an early form of breast cancer, into a surgery group or active monitoring where they got more frequent scans. After two years there was no significant difference between the surgery and monitoring group on those who were diagnosed with invasive cancer. However, some experts pushed back saying differences may emerge beyond a two-year timeline. The second study found that removing lymph nodes in similar cases did not improve survival.
Key line: “The researchers will continue to follow the patients to see if the finding holds up over a decade.”
Source: AP
WELLNESS + BEAUTY
Beauty’s Final Taboo?
What: The New York Times surveyed 900 female readers about their “relationship with their facial hair” and explores the history of beauty and facial hair and the women who have embraced it versus those who have eradicated it in this deep dive piece.
Key line: “That sense of shame is more common than one might think. Though studies suggest that almost half of all women will grow facial hair at some point in their lives, visible facial hair, whether that be a few bristles on a chin, a dark mustache or unruly eyebrows that meet in the middle, is not the norm culturally.”
Source: New York TImes
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