October 22, 2026

Tonight: menopause symptoms without prescriptions, a familiar pill’s other job in the delivery room, and the years women spend caring for everyone else.

— Meghan McCarthy

HALF HAVE SYMPTOMS. 1 IN 6 TAKES A PRESCRIPTION.

Nearly half of U.S. women ages 40 to 60, about 16.7 million, reported menopause symptoms in the preceding year, according to 2025 federal survey data the CDC released Tuesday. Symptoms were most common at ages 52 to 55, when two-thirds reported them. But only 15.6% of women with symptoms were currently taking a prescription medication for them. Among symptomatic women ages 44 to 47, fewer than 1 in 10 were. The analysis excluded women who were pregnant, postpartum, or in surgical menopause. Both the American College of Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued guidelines this month recommending hormone therapy for hot flashes and night sweats.

THE FDA STILL HASN’T DECLARED A PATCH SHORTAGE

Three senators want the FDA’s plan for fixing estrogen patch supply problems that have persisted over the past year. In a letter dated Tuesday, Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Tammy Duckworth, and Adam Schiff wrote that nearly 20 patch formulations have been affected, leaving some women stretching doses, splitting patches, or stopping therapy altogether. The FDA hasn’t listed the patches in its official shortage database, though it says it is working with manufacturers and expediting reviews to increase supply. “Passive monitoring and generic advice fail to adequately mitigate a nationwide manufacturing deficit,” the senators wrote. They want answers by Nov. 16, including whether the agency anticipated the demand surge before announcing changes to hormone therapy’s boxed warnings last November.

MIFEPRISTONE’S OTHER JOB

Mifepristone, best known for its role in medication abortion, could also help more women deliver without a C-section. A review in Obstetrics & Gynecology examined 15 randomized trials involving around 1,900 women undergoing labor induction at 37 weeks or later. Women given mifepristone had about one-third lower odds of a C-section: 33% delivered by C-section, compared with 42% in the comparison groups, which included placebo. Inductions were also shorter and required less additional medication. In the minority of trials that reported these safety outcomes, researchers found no differences in postpartum hemorrhage, neonatal intensive care admissions, or low five-minute Apgar scores, a measure of newborn babies’ health shortly after birth.

PAID LEAVE, ONE COUNTY AT A TIME

Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, passed a law requiring certain employers give employees 12 weeks of paid parental leave. County Executive Sara Innamorato signed it into law Thursday after the council approved it Tuesday night. The policy covers eligible birthing and non-birthing parents at employers with 15 or more employees, including after a stillbirth. Employers will pay the benefits and have roughly a year to implement the changes. Nurses at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital helped lead the push after seeing parents return to work while their babies were still in intensive care, The 19th reports. The U.S. still has no nationwide guarantee of paid parental leave.

WOMEN’S CAREGIVING YEARS GOT LONGER. MEN’S DIDN’T.

American women can expect to spend about seven years of their adult lives caring for an older relative or friend, a University of Michigan study estimates. That’s up from about six years in 2011. Men’s time spent caring for elders held steady at about four years. The projections assume caregiving rates measured in 2023 continue. Women and men were expected to spend similar amounts of time caring for a spouse or partner. But women faced more years caring for parents, grandparents, and others, and more years providing every category of help studied: personal care, household tasks, transportation, and medical care. The researchers say the gap may widen as older adults need more care and more age without close family.

October 20, 2026

Tonight: a new women’s health division at NIH but without money (yet), what happens when the OB-GYNs leave, and more.

— Meghan McCarthy

NEW DIVISION, NO MONEY

Trump signed an executive order Monday directing NIH to create a women’s health division, though he “did not appear to be aware” that the agency already has a women’s health research office, Washington Post reports. The new division won’t replace that office. No new funding was announced, despite NIH seeing significant cuts under this administration. And as STAT notes, grants with the word “women” in them triggered special reviews. The Biden administration launched a White House women’s health research initiative in 2023, this order explicitly revokes it. Women’s health groups, including the national OB-GYN society, welcomed the announcement, but added that “robust and sustained funding is necessary.”

THE OB-GYNS UPDATE THEIR MENOPAUSE PLAYBOOK

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has updated its menopause guidance for the first time since 2014, strongly recommending hormone therapy for hot flashes and related sleep problems for women who don’t have a medical reason to avoid it. The group recommends starting before age 60 or within 10 years of menopause. For women who can’t or won’t take hormones, the group backs certain antidepressants and newer nonhormonal drugs Veozah and Lynkuet, and it doesn’t support soy or herbal supplements. The guidance lands 10 days after the American College of Physicians, which sets guidance for internists, recommended hormones as first-line treatment.

IDAHO BANNED ABORTION. MORE THAN A THIRD OF ITS OB-GYNS STOPPED DELIVERING BABIES.

More than a third of Idaho’s OB-GYNs have stopped practicing obstetrics, left the state, closed their practices or retired since its abortion ban took effect in 2022, The New York Times reports. Half of the state’s 44 counties have no practicing obstetrician. One Boise practice has interviewed 15 doctors since the ban, and only two took the job. In Moscow, a family doctor waited nearly an hour, her C-section patient’s abdomen still open, for the OB on call to come in from Washington. Another patient’s baby died in the second trimester, and her doctor couldn’t find mifepristone, even at pharmacies across the border. The woman waited two days to deliver on misoprostol alone. “My job is to keep a woman safe,” said Boise OB-GYN Becky Uranga. “But right now, there’s a limit to how well I can do that.”

BIRTH CENTERS HANDLE MORE BIRTHS THAN TWO DECADES AGO. INSURANCE STILL LAGS.

Freestanding birth centers handled 0.6% of U.S. births in 2024, up from 0.2% in 2004, according to a Commonwealth Fund analysis. But deliveries have declined slightly since 2022, and the number of centers isn’t increasing. Among families who gave birth at one, 39% paid out of pocket, compared with 3% of hospital births. Medicaid covered 18% of birth center births, versus 41% of hospital births. Where Medicaid does pay, rates in a nine-state study ranged from about $1,300 per birth in New Jersey to about $6,000 in Massachusetts. Ten states have no birth centers at all. The authors blame low reimbursement, strict licensing rules, and a shortage of midwives with birth center experience.

TESTOSTERONE STUDY RAISES HEART-RISK QUESTIONS

Postmenopausal women who started testosterone were more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than similar women who didn’t, according to preliminary research to be presented at The Menopause Society’s annual meeting this week. Researchers compared health records for more than 6,300 women. Over an average of nearly three years, nearly 4% of women on testosterone developed at least one of the conditions tracked, including coronary artery disease, stroke and heart failure, compared with 0.5% of women who weren’t on testosterone. The findings come from a conference abstract, and the observational study shows an association, not that testosterone caused the problems. There is no FDA-approved testosterone product for women in the U.S. “Long-term safety data on testosterone use in women are lacking,” said Stephanie Faubion, the society’s medical director.

Here are the most interesting items we saw in women’s health this week:

🏥 52 MATERNITY WARDS DOWN, AND THE CUTS HAVEN'T FULLY HIT. Fifty-two maternity wards have already closed since Medicaid funding cuts were signed into law, with eight more announced — and the bill doesn't fully take effect until next year.

📈 MENOPAUSE IS A CLIFF, NOT A SLOPE. A million-woman analysis in Nature Medicine found that more than half of health markers shift abruptly around the final menstrual period — bone, liver, kidney, cholesterol — not gradually. Women on HRT showed smaller shifts.

⚖️ SHE'S SUING ANTI-ABORTION ACTIVISTS UNDER THEIR OWN PILL LAW. A Texas mother used the state's HB 7 to sue Students for Life leaders who allegedly ordered abortion medication on their phones outside Space Center Houston — and is seeking $459,782, the average cost of raising two children in Texas.

TOP CLICKED THIS WEEK

Population-Scale Reconstruction of Menopause Dynamics Reveals a Physiological Cliff at the Final Menstrual Period // Nature Medicine

Why Doctors Are Urging Women to Redo Early Genetic Tests for Cancer Risks // The Washington Post

US Maternity Wards Face Wave of Closures as Medicaid Cuts Kick In // The Guardian

Texas Woman Uses State Law to Sue Anti-Abortion Group That Allegedly Ordered Abortion Pills Online // Texas Tribune

Premenarche risk factors for future dysmenorrhoea: a prospective cohort study // The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health

Why the Ovary Still Matters Well Beyond Menopause // The Washington Post

October 15, 2026

Tonight: evidence that giving new moms Medicaid works, the ovary’s second act, and more.

— Meghan McCarthy

SHE’S SUING ANTI-ABORTION ACTIVISTS UNDER THEIR OWN PILL LAW

A Texas mother of two has sued Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins and three colleagues under HB 7, the Texas law that lets private citizens sue anyone who provides abortion pills to or from someone in the state. The suit says the four ordered abortion medication on their phones outside Space Center Houston in March. None of them was pregnant. The plaintiff, who goes by the pseudonym Maria Puerto, says both of her pregnancies were unplanned despite birth control, and that the state’s ban kept her from ending them. She’s seeking $459,782, the suit’s figure for the average cost of raising two children to 18 in Texas. The Texas Tribune notes the law doesn’t explicitly ban ordering the pills, only transporting them within the state. But it’s an interesting test of turning the law against the anti-abortion activists who wanted it.

MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ALCOHOL CAUSES BREAST CANCER

Only 15% of people surveyed across 14 European countries knew that alcohol can cause breast cancer, according to the World Health Organization’s European office. Among women, it was 21%. WHO estimates alcohol caused about 39,200 new breast cancers across Europe in 2020. It calls drinking “often the least discussed” behavioral health risk, and is pointing health workers to a set of screening tools, including a 10-question drinking assessment to help them start the conversation. “We know screening and brief interventions work, but only if health professionals feel able to use them,” said Carina Ferreira-Borges, WHO/Europe’s regional advisor on alcohol.

A FULL YEAR OF MEDICAID, A LOT MORE FOLLOW-UP CARE

When pandemic rules kept new mothers on Medicaid for a full year, women who had diabetes or high blood pressure during pregnancy got more of the follow-up care that can catch problems after birth. That’s according to a study of Medicaid deliveries in New York and Texas. The biggest gains came in Texas, where coverage for new moms had been far less robust. Without the pandemic Medicaid coverage, about 41% of Texas mothers with pregnancy diabetes got a follow-up diabetes test within a year, and about two-thirds of mothers with either complication saw a doctor outpatient. When new moms were on Medicaid, testing rose about 12 percentage points and visits about 10 points. In New York, where nearly 9 in 10 already had a visit, the gains were smaller. The authors say the result “suggests that postpartum extension of Medicaid is an effective strategy.”

MORE EVIDENCE THE OVARY DOESN’T RETIRE AT MENOPAUSE

The Washington Post reports on a topic that has been accumulating evidence: that ovaries remain biologically active long after menopause. A small study from Northwestern and the Buck Institute analyzed healthy ovarian tissue from 28 women aged 50 to 75. Researchers measured nearly 6,000 proteins and found such distinct molecular signatures in women in their 50s versus their 70s that they could almost tell an ovary’s age from them. They also found molecules that may signal to other organs, along with molecular changes also seen in ovarian cancer, even though all the tissue studied was healthy. “Women are living three [more] decades with this organ in their body, and we have no idea what it’s doing,” said co-author Francesca Duncan.

PAINFUL PERIODS START EARLY

More than half of girls who started menstruating reported painful periods by age 12 or 13, according to a study that followed about 2,300 U.S. girls from before their first period. Nearly 1 in 5 of those with pain had severe pain. Girls who were further along in puberty at age 9 or 10 were more likely to develop period pain. So were girls from lower-income families, and Black and Hispanic girls. Anxiety, depression and attention problems before a girl’s first period didn’t predict pain. Poor sleep didn’t predict who would get pain, but it was linked to pain getting in the way of daily life. The researchers say signs present before a first period could help identify girls at risk “before pain becomes a lifelong issue.”

October 13, 2026

Tonight: dozens of maternity wards already gone before Medicaid cuts fully land, the menopause “cliff” hiding in your blood work, and more.

— Meghan McCarthy

52 MATERNITY WARDS DOWN, AND THE CUTS HAVEN’T FULLY HIT

Fifty-two maternity wards have closed since a bill cutting federal Medicaid funding was signed into law in July 2025, and eight more have announced closures. The Guardian reports the count, which comes from the advocacy group Protect Our Care. The bill won’t fully take effect until next year, but hospitals in Virginia and rural Georgia have already cited the coming Medicaid changes as a reason for shutting their units. Medicaid pays for about 40% of U.S. births. March of Dimes has identified 131 at-risk rural hospitals with labor and delivery units; if they close, 96 counties would be left without one.

MENOPAUSE IS A CLIFF, NOT A SLOPE

Menopause may bring abrupt changes across the body, a large analysis in Nature Medicine suggests. Researchers analyzed more than 300 million lab results from over a million women in the U.S. and Israel. They examined 90 different measures of health and found more than half shifted sharply around the final menstrual period, including markers of bone, liver, and kidney health, cholesterol, and hormones. Men showed no comparable pattern. Women taking hormone therapy appeared to have smaller shifts, though the observational study cannot prove the treatment caused that difference. Some hormone changes began more than a decade before the last period.

“IT’S IN YOUR HEAD” HITS WOMEN HARDER

Women with autoimmune diseases were nearly 75% more likely than men to say their symptoms had been misdiagnosed as psychosomatic. And they were almost 50% more likely to report a psychiatric misdiagnosis, according to a survey of about 6,600 patients. Men most often reported getting a diagnosis within three months; for women it was most often one to two years. Men, meanwhile, were slightly more likely to be misdiagnosed with a different physical disease. “As women we still often have a harder time having our symptoms believed,” said co-author Shaista Tayabali.

TESTED NEGATIVE FOR BRCA YEARS AGO? TEST AGAIN.

Doctors are urging women who tested negative for breast and ovarian cancer genes years ago to retest, The Washington Post reports. Early tests focused on BRCA1 and BRCA2 and missed some variants that today’s panels of dozens of genes can catch. In a study of 139 patients retested at a cancer genetics clinic, more than 1 in 6 who had no cancer-risk variant identified in their initial testing were found to carry one when retested. Insurance doesn’t always cover a second test. “There are probably thousands of individuals out there who need to be retested,” said Sofia Merajver of the University of Michigan.

STUDY: BENZOS IN EARLY PREGNANCY DIDN’T RAISE BIRTH DEFECT RISK

Taking benzodiazepines like Xanax (alprazolam) or Klonopin (clonazepam) in the first trimester was not linked to a meaningful increase in major birth defects, according to a study of about 4.2 million U.S. pregnancies in Annals of Internal Medicine. After accounting for other differences between the groups, the risk of any major birth defect was essentially the same with and without the drugs. Researchers did find a small increase in digestive-tract malformations. About 2% of pregnancies on Medicaid had a benzodiazepine prescription filled in the first trimester.

October 9, 2026

Tonight: the abortion pill review that won't land until after the midterms (of course), the doctors' group that put estrogen first, and more.

— Meghan McCarthy

THE ABORTION PILL REVIEW LANDS AFTER THE MIDTERMS

Under pressure from abortion opponents, the FDA is revisiting mifepristone’s safety, despite decades of evidence that the drug is safe and effective. The agency won’t finish the review until March, it told a federal judge Wednesday. (Convenient timing for the midterm elections.) Its own ongoing monitoring has identified no new safety concerns. The review will compare side effects among roughly 100,000 women who took the pill with those of patients who had surgical abortions through 10 weeks. It could lead the agency to reinstate an in-person dispensing requirement, threatening telehealth access that has helped patients in abortion ban states get the medication since Roe fell.

THE INTERNISTS SAY: ESTROGEN FIRST

The American College of Physicians, the country's largest medical specialty group, now recommends estrogen as the first treatment for hot flashes and night sweats, both in perimenopause and after menopause. Women who still have a uterus would take it with a progestogen. For women who can't take or tolerate estrogen, the group suggests the antidepressants venlafaxine or desvenlafaxine next. After those come SSRIs, gabapentin, and the hormone-free drugs fezolinetant and elinzanetant. The group also urged doctors to ask about symptoms, since many women won't bring them up.

FREE BIRTH CONTROL, $2,097 A YEAR

Insurers are still charging women for birth control the Affordable Care Act guarantees at no cost, according to a report from the National Women's Law Center. It draws on more than 8,500 requests to the group's CoverHer hotline since 2013. Plans are excluding whole categories of contraception and refusing to cover related care, like office visits and anesthesia for sterilization. They're also making women "try and fail" other methods first, which the group calls unlawful. Callers who were denied coverage from 2022 to 2025 reported paying an average of about $2,100 a year out of pocket. Since Dobbs, more women are seeking permanent birth control: by 2025, 55% of hotline requests involved coverage for removal of both fallopian tubes.

YOUR MAMMOGRAM, NOW WITH A HEART CHECK (IN MARYLAND)

Since Oct. 1, Maryland mammography centers must tell patients in their results letter if the scan showed calcium deposits in the breast arteries. Those deposits are linked to higher risk of heart attack, heart failure, and stroke. The Washington Post reports Maryland is the first state to require the notice. Heart disease is women's No. 1 killer, yet many women are more likely to get a mammogram than a heart screening. No trial has yet shown that acting on the finding prevents heart problems.

WHO GETS IVF? FOLLOW THE MONEY.

About 15% of women ages 18 to 49 say they or a partner have needed fertility care, according to a survey of around 3,500 women by KFF. A quarter of them didn't get the care they needed, most often because of cost. Among women who needed help, 17% of those with higher incomes got IVF, compared with 3% of those with low incomes. No federal law requires fertility coverage, Medicaid rarely pays for it, and only about a quarter of large employers that offer health benefits cover IVF.

October 7, 2026

Tonight: high blood pressure disorders in pregnancy jump 74%, an A.I. breast cancer risk test goes nationwide for $249, and more.

— Meghan McCarthy

DOCTORS TAKE THE ABORTION FIGHT BEYOND THE EXAM ROOM

Doctors have stepped deeper into abortion politics since the Supreme Court overturned Roe, Politico reports. Physicians have led ballot measure campaigns in Ohio and nearly a dozen other states, sued over abortion bans in Idaho, Tennessee, and Texas, and run for office. Anti-abortion doctors have organized too. The two camps now face off over November ballot measures in Virginia, Idaho, Nevada, and Missouri.

YOUR AI MAMMOGRAM, READ FOR $249.

Women across the U.S. can now pay $249 for an A.I. estimate of their five-year breast cancer risk using a mammogram they’ve already had, the New York Times reports. The FDA-authorized tool, Clairity Breast, looks for subtle patterns in compatible screening mammograms from the past year. It could help doctors identify women who would benefit from closer screening or preventive medication, even without a family history. Everlywell sells it; insurance doesn’t cover it. Experts caution that low scores could encourage women to skip screening, while high scores could trigger unnecessary biopsies. Researchers haven’t yet shown that using the test saves lives.

YOUR EMPLOYER MAY ALREADY PAY FOR MENOPAUSE SUPPORT

Only about 10% of employees say their employer offers support specifically for menopause, according to a survey of 1,110 U.S. workers by the Society for Women’s Health Research and The Fuchsia Tent. But many report general benefits that the researchers say could help: 62% have prescription coverage, 55% have flexible scheduling, and 51% have telehealth. The authors urge employers to explain how workers can use those benefits for menopause care. Women most often said they would use flexible scheduling and menopause prescription coverage. One in three women who reported or suspected symptoms has considered leaving her job or cutting her hours.

STUDY: PREGNANCY BLOOD PRESSURE DISORDERS ARE UP 74%

Rates of high blood pressure disorders during pregnancy rose 74% between 2016 and 2024, from about 63 to 109 per 1,000 live births, according to an analysis of more than 33 million U.S. births. Rates rose across every racial and ethnic group. By 2024, American Indian and Alaska Native mothers had the highest rate, at about 144 per 1,000, followed by Black mothers, at about 133.

PATIENT NAVIGATORS HELPED CLOSE THE POSTPARTUM GAP

Patient navigators helped low-income mothers get postpartum care at a Chicago hospital, according to a randomized trial of 405 patients. They helped mothers overcome barriers like transportation, childcare, and scheduling. With navigator support, 96% attended a postpartum visit, compared with 80% who received usual care. More mothers also received depression screening, connections to care when needed, and guidance about mental health. By about a year postpartum, 57% had attended a primary care visit, versus 30%.

October 4, 2026

Here are the most interesting this we saw in women’s healthcare this week:

🔬 SCIENCE DEDICATED AN ENTIRE ISSUE TO WHY WOMEN'S PAIN IS DIFFERENT — AND WHY IT'S TAKEN THIS LONG TO STUDY IT. A review in special issue of Science examines how hormones, immune responses, and the body's own pain-control systems drive women's higher burden of chronic pain conditions — and credits a 2016 NIH policy requiring researchers to account for biological sex with finally moving the field past documentation toward explanation.

🏛️ TEXAS SAID IT PROTECTS LIFE. TIERRA WALKER'S FAMILY IS TESTING THAT CLAIM IN COURT. Her family is suing the state, medical authorities, and her doctors after she died from pregnancy complications. Doctors repeatedly refused to give Walker an abortion, claiming the fetus was healthy. The lawsuit turns abortion opponents' own argument back on them: if the Texas and U.S. constitutions protect a right to life, that right belongs to pregnant women too.

💉 GLP-1 USE AFTER CHILDBIRTH HAS NEARLY DOUBLED IN THE LAST SEVEN YEARS. Among commercially insured women, the share starting a GLP-1 drug within six months of giving birth rose from 0.08% in 2018 to 1.9% in early 2025. This growth is happening before researchers have solid data on what it means for breastfeeding safety (a common issue with postpartum drugs.)

TOP CLICKED THIS WEEK

• Sex-specific mechanisms of chronic pain // Science
  

• Done being silent: Pa. legislators push package to close gaps in menopause treatments // Penn Capital-Star
  

• Postpartum Initiation of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Among Commercially Insured Women in the US // JAMA
  

• Oral menopausal hormone therapy linked to higher blood clot risk in legs or lungs regardless of dose or duration // EurekAlert
  

• Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy and Incident Dementia // JAMA Network Open
  

• In California, IVF insurance haves and have-nots // Los Angeles Times

October 1, 2026

Tonight: Tierra Walker’s family turns the “right to life” argument back on Texas, a lawmaker would like everyone to stop discussing menopause, and more.

— Meghan McCarthy

TEXAS PROTECTS LIFE. JUST NOT HERS.

Tierra Walker’s family is suing Texas officials, medical authorities, and her doctors over her death after she repeatedly sought an abortion. Writing in Slate, legal historian Mary Ziegler explains the strategy: bring those defendants into the same case, where they’ll have to answer for their roles. Walker suffered seizures, a dangerous blood clot, and soaring blood pressure; her family says doctors dismissed her abortion requests because her baby was fine. Ziegler expects finger-pointing—including at Walker’s preexisting conditions. But the suit turns abortion opponents’ own argument back on them: if the Texas and U.S. constitutions protect a right to life, that includes pregnant women.

“ALL IN YOUR HEAD” IS NOT A RESEARCH STRATEGY

Science devoted a special issue to women’s health, including a review of why women bear more of the burden of many chronic pain conditions. The authors examine hormones, immune responses, and the body’s own pain-control systems. They credit a 2016 NIH policy requiring researchers to account for biological sex with helping move the field beyond documenting differences toward explaining them. The goal: answers that lead to better care and end the all-too-familiar dismissal that women’s illnesses are “all in your head.”

SORRY, SIR. WE’RE STILL TALKING ABOUT MENOPAUSE.

A male colleague told Pennsylvania state Rep. Liz Hanbidge he would support her menopause bill—then asked her to stop discussing it because “he thinks it’s gross,” she said. She kept talking. Seven proposals advanced through House committees this week, covering menopause education, insurance coverage for treatment and pelvic floor therapy, workplace accommodations, osteoporosis care, and vaginal estrogen for menopausal symptoms and UTIs. One would expand Medicaid coverage of menopause treatments. Some Republicans opposed the bills, citing concerns including costs.

FIRST COMES BABY. THEN COMES THE GLP-1.

Among commercially insured women, the share starting a GLP-1 drug within six months of giving birth rose from 0.08% in early 2018 to 1.9% in early 2025, a JAMA study found. Women with type 2 diabetes were most likely to start treatment: nearly 17% did by early 2025. In total numbers, though, women with overweight or obesity made up the largest group of new users by late 2024. Most women started at least three months after delivery. One question is what this means for breastfeeding, as safety data is limited and claims data couldn’t show who was nursing.

RARE DOESN’T MEAN MINOR

Sepsis occurred in about six of every 10,000 Mississippi hospital births from 2016 through 2025—but was linked to nearly a third of deaths during delivery stays. A JAMA Network Open study found rates were twice as high among Black mothers as white mothers, and higher among women on Medicaid than those with private insurance. More than half of women with sepsis delivered prematurely, and nearly 18% had a stillbirth. Their hospital stays averaged 10 days and about $135,000 in charges, compared with 2.5 days and $23,000 for women without sepsis.

September 29, 2026

Tonight: how hormone therapy’s clot risks differ between pills and patches, California’s IVF mandate brings more (but not all) patients into fertility clinics, and more.

— Meghan McCarthy

THE PILL AND THE PATCH: SAME DRUG, DIFFERENT OUTCOMES?

Women taking oral menopausal hormone therapy had higher rates of blood clots in the legs or lungs at any dose and any duration, while transdermal patches, gels and sprays showed no general increase in clot risk. That’s according to a study reviewing around 40,000 women who had a first clot, stroke or heart attack, matched to about 200,000 women who hadn't. Increased stroke and heart attack risk was mainly found among women on high-dose oral estradiol, above 1 milligram a day, for more than a year. The absolute numbers are small: one extra clot for every 1,055 women on oral therapy for a year, one extra stroke per 1,642, one extra heart attack per 3,846.

PREECLAMPSIA AND DEMENTIA RISK, TWENTY YEARS LATER

Women who had a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy, meaning preeclampsia or gestational hypertension, had a higher risk of dementia over roughly two decades of follow-up, in a nationwide cohort of around 1.4 million women. That link, however, was not statistically significant once researchers also adjusted for things like chronic high blood pressure or diabetes that developed after delivery. The authors' read is that a hypertensive pregnancy works as an early-life marker of long-term neurovascular vulnerability.

A YEAR AFTER THE C-SECTION, THE PAIN IS STILL RUNNING THEIR LIVES

Among women with chronic pain after a C-section delivery, nearly 70% said it was interfering with their mood a year after giving birth and over 50% said it was interfering with sleep, according to a review of 30 studies covering around 28,000 women across 22 countries. One large study found roughly five times higher odds of significant depressive symptoms at three and six months. Chronic postsurgical pain is estimated to affect 15% to 17% of women three to six months after a C-section, though the review's authors caution that most of the studies were observational.

CALIFORNIA MANDATED (SOME) IVF COVERAGE. BUSINESS IS UP AT CLINICS.

California's IVF mandate took effect in January, but it applies to about 9 million Californians—people working at certain companies with 100 or more employees, and state employees starting in 2027. That leaves out a large chunk of people, including small business employees, Medi-Cal enrollees, and members of the military, who face costs of about $25,000 a cycle in Los Angeles. Still, five LA-area fertility clinics told the LA Times their patient numbers are up about 20% in the nine months since the law took effect.

FORTY-EIGHT BABIES LATER, INSURANCE STILL WON'T COVER IT

Uterus transplants can allow women born without a uterus, or who have had theirs removed, to carry a pregnancy. A Penn-led review of 60 transplants performed at four U.S. centers from 2016 through 2025 documented 48 babies born, including nine women who gave birth twice. But the procedure remains complicated: more than half the babies were born prematurely. And access remains limited, in large part because it is not covered by insurance, putting it out of reach for many women who could benefit.