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EVERYTHING
NIH Acting Director Says Research Can Continue
What: After days of confusion at the agency, Stat reports that the acting director of the NIH told staff they could continue “mission critical” research and ongoing studies. But the ban on public communications remains.
Key line: “The agency expects ‘additional guidance’ this week on the communications freeze — which unleashed confusion about whether government workers could attend public meetings, speak with outside researchers, or dispatch public health information — from the Health and Human Services Department.”
Source: Stat
BIRTH CONTROL
Getting a Baseline on IUD Pain Treatments
What: Axios reports on an Epic Research analysis of IUD placements and if they were accompanied by pain or anxiety medication. They found just over 5% of insertions used pain medication or treatments from 2017 to the end of the third quarter in 2024. But that number increased 170% from 2017, when it was present in 343 per 10,000 insertions, to 2024 when it was present in 927 per 10,000 insertions.
Key line: “IUDs are the second-most popular form of reversible birth control after birth control pills, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last summer recommended that health providers have more upfront conversations with patients about potential pain or cramping during placement and options for managing discomfort.”
Source: Axios
FERTILITY
The Kinder, Gentler IVF?
What: The Atlantic dives into “in vitro maturation” or IVM, a potential alternative to IVF that uses immature eggs and matures them in a lab. That could save women the arduous process of injecting themselves drugs for two weeks to get the maximum number of mature eggs possible.
Key line: “The first IVM baby was born in Korea in 1991, and since then, the method has generally yielded lower birth rates than IVF. Decades later, new scientific techniques are raising the possibility that IVM could be a viable alternative to IVF—at least for some patients—and free thousands of aspiring mothers from brutal protocols.”
Source: The Atlantic
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Formula Shortage Led to Increase in Breastfeeding Rates
What: JAMA breaks down a December study from Pediatrics that found the 2022 infant formula shortage in the United States led to a small but meaningful increase in breastfeeding rates.
Key line: “Between 2016 and 2022, breastfeeding rates remained relatively stable in the US at about 84%, according to a study of national birth certificate data published in Pediatrics. In June 2022, initiation peaked at 87%, with a gradual decline to 86% through the remainder of the year as tariffs were suspended on imported formula and the domestic recall ended. The uptick in breastfeeding initiation, which increased nationally by 1.96 percentage points on average, was most notable among Black mothers.”
Source: JAMA
ABORTION ACCESS
Remembering Carol Downer
What: The New York Times has an obituary for Carol Downer, a pioneer for women’s health. Downer helped women understand their basic anatomy—and pushed for non-medical experts to be able to perform vacuum extraction abortions in the 1970s, before the passage of Roe vs. Wade.
Key line: “In 1993, Ms. Downer and Rebecca Chalker, an abortion counselor, published ‘A Woman’s Book of Choices: Abortion, Menstrual Extraction, RU-486,’ essentially a consumer guide to abortion. Le Anne Schreiber, writing in The New York Times Book Review, called it ‘a print hotline in a time of government-ordered gag rules’ as well as ‘a warning sign.’ ‘When so few doctors perform abortions,’ she wrote, ‘when so few medical schools teach the techniques, when so many states seek to impose so many restrictions, women reluctantly begin to take risks that other people call choices.’”
Source: New York Times
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