Tonight: more death-penalty bills, a postpartum breakthrough, and an AI that sees what we can’t.

Plus infections, preterm risk, and why “access” still isn’t access.

DEATH PENALTY FOR ABORTIONS (AGAIN) // Two Tennessee Republican legislators are pushing a bill to label abortion “homicide of an unborn child,” which would open the door to the death penalty for people who get abortions—and anyone who helps them. We’ve seen this in other states and it’s failed each time. Attention helps.

WISCONSIN POSTPARTUM, FINALLY // ProPublica reports that the Wisconsin Assembly voted 95–1 to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to a full year. This happened after Speaker Robin Vos finally let the bipartisan bill move forward; and Gov. Tony Evers is expected to sign. Wisconsin will be one of the last states to extend this care, which gives low-income moms coverage during the stretch when serious postpartum complications often surface.

BLACK BOX BREASTS // The Boston Globe reports that Boston startup Clairity built an AI tool that flags high breast-cancer risk from a standard mammogram, and it is outperforming family-history questionnaires to identify women at high risk. That could help target prevention meds and earlier screening. But exactly how it identifies risk is still unknown (i.e. what patterns is it seeing that the human eye can’t?), which can make clinicians wary.

UTIs → PRETERM? // A large study over nearly 700,000 pregnant women found UTIs during pregnancy were linked to a significantly higher risk of preterm birth. The risk was highest in the first six days after diagnosis and when the infection occurred before 28 weeks. It’s a signal to take pregnancy UTIs seriously, even though observational data can’t prove causation.

ACCESS ≠ AVAILABLE // KFF has all the details on IUDs in the US, and they explain how access depends on cost, insurance fine print, and whether a clinic offers same-day insertion (and real pain control). They also note that a new copper IUD, Miudella, is approved and expected in 2026…but uninsured patients are far more likely to stop (or never start) long-acting birth control because of cost.

Hear are the trends we spotted this week in women’s health, and as always, scroll for the top clicked stories.

• 🩺 Early prenatal care is slipping. First-trimester visits dropped three points from 2021–2024, possibly because maternity deserts are expanding. Access (not awareness) may be the real crisis.
  

• 🚨 An autopsy on a 13-week miscarriage in SC. No trauma was found, but officials were trying to DNA-identify the mother. In a post-Dobbs environment, even a natural miscarriage can trigger law enforcement involvement.
  

• 🚶‍♀️ Bed rest may not prevent preterm birth — and could make it worse. In a small randomized study, women who took fewer than 3,500 steps per day delivered earlier. Another long-standing pregnancy norm facing new scrutiny.

TOP CLICKED STORIES THIS WEEK

Trends in Comparative Growth in Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Programs Over the Past 20 Years (2005–2024) // Obstetrics & Gynecology

The Plot Against American Women // Throughline

Activity Restriction in Pregnancy and the Risk of Early Delivery // Obstetrics & Gynecology

Birth Control Is Changing — and So Are Women’s Attitudes Toward It // Vox

Coroner Releases Autopsy Details on Fetus Found at Water Plant // WACH

Menopausal hormone therapy not linked to increased risk of death // British Medical Journal

The case for more personalized breast cancer screening // Washington Post

Tonight in women’s health: the (good) HRT data keeps stacking up, risk-based mammograms spark pushback, early prenatal care declines, bed rest faces new scrutiny, and the wellness industry meets infertility desperation.

HORMONE THERAPY NOT DEADLY // Another large study adds to the now-consistent evidence: an analysis of more than 800,000 women found women who used it were no more likely to die from heart disease or cancer than those who didn’t. Hormone therapy remains nuanced, but the accumulating data are steadily challenging the idea that it broadly shortens women’s lives.

FERTILITY RETREAT ENEMAS // After four years of trying to conceive (and many rounds of IVF), Annie Daly went to a “fertility enhancement” retreat in the Himalayas, where she got Ayurvedic oil baths, enemas, yoga, the works. She left with lower blood cortisol levels and a sense of peace; whether it helps her get pregnant is TBD. It’s a well-done take on what we will do when conventional medicine offers limited answers.

MORE SKIPPING EARLY PRENATAL CARE // Prenatal care rose from 2016 to 2021, but a CDC study found that number dropped from 2021 to 2024. Researchers found a three-percentage-point drop in early checkups and a two-point rise in women getting late or no care at all. With over a third of U.S. counties now considered “maternity care deserts,” access may be the more urgent variable.

BED REST BAD FOR PRETERM PREVENTION? // A small study in Obstetrics & Gynecology found that bed rest or limiting activity for pregnant women didn’t help prevent preterm birth…it might have made things worse. Of the randomized group of women (who joined between 16 and nearly 24 weeks pregnant), those who took fewer than 3,500 steps per day ended up delivering earlier. It’s a reminder that some standard pregnancy advice was adopted before strong evidence existed.

PERSONALIZE, DON’T SKIP // After suggesting breast cancer screening should be more personalized, Leana Wen heard from readers who worried she was telling women not to get mammograms at 40. She says that’s not the message: the argument is for risk-based screening, not skipping care. If you’re high risk, annual screening may not be enough; if you’re low risk, you may be over-screened. The shift is about matching screening intensity to actual risk.

Tonight in women’s health (and personal freedoms): reproductive sewer surveillance, the Project 2275 playbook, more depth on the birth control backlash, maternal mortality in conflict zones, and the slow-growing OBGYN workforce.

AUTOPSY FOR 13 WEEK MISCARRIAGE IN SC? // A bizarre and frightening story from South Carolina, where an employee at a county sewer facility found a 13–15-week-old fetus and alerted law enforcement. The fetus was clearly the product of a miscarriage (which often happens in a toilet), but the county still performed an autopsy. They found no evidence of trauma, but they are still looking to establish a DNA profile to find the mother (??!!)

BIG BROTHER WANTS WOMEN OUT OF COLLEGE // Jill Filipovic reports that the authors of “Project 2025” have a new playbook for America’s next 250 years, and it lays out a shockingly (but not shockingly?) explicit plan to roll back women’s rights. That includes banning IVF, restricting contraception, and having fewer women go to college so they can marry early and have children. If you think this is an exaggeration, Filipovic goes point-by-point through the document, using its own text.

THE WHOLE BIRTH CONTROL BACKLASH BUSINESS // Hannah Seo has a deep dive on Vox exploring how frustrations with hormonal contraception are in part fueling a backlash—and that includes how real medical gaps are driving some people to junk science. As she puts it: “…it’s worth interrogating where people’s dissatisfactions come from, and tracing how legitimate experiences with and worries about hormonal contraceptives can lead people toward alternate (and often scientifically dubious) sources of education about their bodies.”

WAR IS DEADLY FOR MOMS // A World Health Organization report found nearly two-thirds of all women who die in childbirth live in countries wracked by conflict or instability. In other words, unstable political environments make pregnancy far deadlier than it should be. They also find some potential solutions: “In Colombia, training traditional birth attendants shows how strengthening trusted local networks can ensure timely care even where access is limited due to geography, insecurity or mistrust.”

OBGYNS MISSING AFTER MED SCHOOL // Researchers found OBGYN residency programs grew more slowly than most other specialties over the past 20 years, even after a 2015 change was supposed to help disparities among medical specialties. Since 2016, the specialty has lagged behind family medicine, emergency medicine, internal medicine, and psychiatry. They say it is leading to a “persistent gap in capacity to meet increasing demand.”

Tonight in women’s health we’ve got the top causes of pregnant and postpartum mortality (it’s not what you might think), a new IVF device that could be a game changer, and a take that even the French are getting in on wellness culture—subbing butter for olive oil.

DRUGS, VIOLENCE, AND PREGNANCY // What is the most likely cause of death for pregnant and postpartum women? Columbia University reports in the New England Journal of Medicine that it is drug overdoses, homicide, or suicide—not medical complications. The lead researcher of the study warned that medicine “may not do as good a job in screening for drug use and intimate partner violence among our pregnant patients as we do for medical complications…we have an opportunity to refocus our efforts on preventing drug overdose and violence with multidisciplinary care that includes referrals to mental health care and social services throughout pregnancy—which could save hundreds of lives.” 

EGGS MIGHT ABOUND // The New York Times reports on a new device that found viable eggs missed by standard IVF searches in more than half of patients. Of the 582 patients studied, the device found extra viable eggs in 316 patients in fluids that would have otherwise been discarded. Those numbers could be a game-changer if it holds up in bigger tests.

RURAL AREAS LOSE NICUS // A JAMA study finds the number of urban hospitals with advanced newborn care units increased while those in rural hospitals dropped from 2010 to 2022, leaving much of rural America without access to critical care for fragile infants. Over that time period, rural areas lost 22 hospitals providing more advanced care while urban areas gained 31.

STUDY: ANTIDEPRESSANTS WORK // Preliminary research presented at the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine found pregnant women who quit their antidepressants were nearly twice as likely to need emergency mental health care as those who stayed on them. They study examined 1,400 women in Pennsylvania using private insurance and pharmacy claims, and all of the women had been diagnosed with anxiety or depression and was taking an antidepressant before getting pregnant.

FRENCH WOMEN (DO GET WELLNESS CUTLURE) // Vanity Fair reports that even Paris, long the capital of carefree indulgence, has gone in on wellness culture, trading butter for olive oil and Botox for “Better Than Botox” juice. As Hannah Seligson writes: “It’s strange to see the French shy away from dairy and embrace new-age practices like meditation—wellness routines that seem quintessentially American—after decades of messaging about how the French do pretty much everything better than we do.”

The top stories in women’s health so far this week cover how a shingles shot is linked to lower dementia risk, rethinking when breast cancer screening should begin, and long-overdue data confirming thousands of women experience significant pain during C-sections every year.

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A SHOT TO PREVENT DEMENTIA? // A study released early from Nature found people over age 65 who got the shingles vaccine were 51% less likely to develop dementia, and the “risk reduction was stronger in females compared to males.” A drop in dementia risk is especially meaningful for women, who make up two thirds of Alzheimer’s patients.

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL FOR BREAST CANCER SCREENINGS // The Washington Post’s Leana Wen breaks down the latest findings on breast cancer screenings, and how experts are rethinking mammograms as the first step in the process. She explains how a recent study found genetic testing at 30 might catch more real risks and fewer false alarms.

C-SECTION ANESTHESIA FAILURES // The New York Times “Daily” podcast revisits a series from last year on how anesthesia is failing some women during C-section surgery, causing extreme pain. The issue is finally getting studied, and a major study last month found about 8% of women endure significant pain during a C-section. And with 1.2 million C-sections in the US every year, that means “100,000 women a year experience significant pain.”

MARY CLAIRE HAVER JOINS MIDI // Midi Health has hired the original Instagram menopause expert, Dr. Mary Claire Haver, as its first “Chief AgeWell Officer.” CEO Joanna Strober said in a press release that “by collaborating with Dr. Haver, we are ensuring women continue to have access to care designed for their bodies, their hormones, and their real lives.”

MIDWIFES FOR MENOPAUSE // Ms. Magazine has an essay from a fourth-generation midwife reviving an old truth: midwifery isn’t just for birth, it has also covered menopause (and still can). Racha Tahani Lawler describes her practice of offering individualized care that keeps bodily autonomy in the hands of patients.

Hear are the trends we spotted this week in women’s health, and as always, scroll for the top clicked stories.

• ⚠️ Abortion bans linked to rising postpartum depression. Comparing outcomes before and after the Supreme Court overturned Roe, researchers found a 9% increase in postpartum depression among low-income women in states that banned abortion. The data adds to growing evidence that abortion bans affect women’s health well beyond pregnancy itself.
  

• 💊 Menopause demand is outpacing supply. Increased use of hormone therapy, helped along by recent FDA label changes, has contributed to nationwide shortages of estrogen patches. It’s a reminder that demand can move faster than manufacturing and access, even as menopause care draws more investment.
  

• 🩺 Cervical cancer screening may be able to scale back. A study found that women vaccinated against HPV might need fewer Pap smears over a lifetime. This comes soon after the FDA approved self-swab tests for cervical cancer, showing how prevention strategies could quickly evolve.

TOP CLICKED STORIES THIS WEEK

Menopause myths, debunked // National Geographic

Postpartum depression rose after abortion bans, study finds // JAMA Network Open

NIH funding cuts disrupt breast cancer research pipeline // American College of Physicians

Estrogen patch shortage leaves patients scrambling // ABC7

Pregnant and undocumented, avoiding care out of fear // The New York Times

Midi Health hits unicorn status with $100M raise // Fierce Healthcare

This week in women’s health: new research underscores why hormone therapy decisions matter more with age, while a nationwide estrogen shortage exposes just how unprepared the system is for the surge in menopause care. Plus, stories on pregnant women avoiding care out of fear of the Trump administration.

MORE EVIDENCE HORMONE THERAPY IS PERSONAL // A retrospective study of over 83,000 women age 50 years and up found the starting hormone therapy *after* 65 can ease menopause symptoms but comes with a higher cancer and heart risks. Dr. Stephanie Faubion, the head of the society that published the study, said the results were “limited by a lack of information” about how exactly women were getting hormone therapy (i.e. topical or oral), but that they “reinforce current recommendations for a personalized approach to hormone therapy use with regular reassessment of risks and benefits for women as they age.” In other words: talk to your doctor.

PREGNANT AND HIDING IN AMERICA // The New York Times has a video following a midwife in Minneapolis working to care for pregnant, undocumented women who are skipping prenatal care and reconsidering birth plans because ICE agents keep showing up near hospitals—making “expecting” feel more like “escaping.”

WOMEN MISSED IN AUTISM DIAGNOSES // The BMJ reports that a Swedish study of nearly 3 million people finds autism rates even out between men and women by adulthood—a sign that girls may go undiagnosed for too long. (And is it a true catch-up effect or diagnostic blind spot?).

ESTROGEN SHORTAGE FOR REAL // The growing adoption of hormone therapy for menopause (in part thanks to the FDA recently dropping a “black box” label) has led to nationwide shortage of estrogen patches. That means patients and pharmacies scrambling as it takes time to ramp up manufacturing. (And discontinued brands aren’t helping.)

MENOPAUSE UNICORN AMONG US // Virtual clinic Midi Health raised $100 million in funding, putting its value at over $1 billion — “unicorn” status that has been rare for women’s health companies. The company says their platform offers everything from menopause care to mammograms and provides care to 25,000 patients per week. The new infusion of cash will go towards “growth and investments in its tech platform to build a scalable system.”

Welcome to your women’s health news update. Tonight, we’ve got menopause myths (always a hit!), a not shocking finding on increased postpartum depression, and more.

CUTTING BACK PAP SMEARS // Researchers from Harvard and the National Cancer Institute used computer modeling to estimate that women already vaccinated against HPV might only need cervical cancer screening a couple of times in their lives without losing health benefits. In other words, current guidelines may be a bit overzealous. (Now as for getting everyone vaccinated…)

MENOPAUSE MYTHS // National Geographic takes on common menopause myths (#1? That everyone experiences the same symptoms.) In general, though, they report that doctors want women to ditch pricey hormone tests, shady supplements, and “natural” hype in favor of real evidence (though still needs to be studied!) and safe hormone therapy.

RESEARCH POST TRUMP NIH CUTS// Several outlets teamed up to show how one lab is like a microcosm of how Trump’s NIH cuts hurt research down the road. They looked at a breast cancer lab at Harvard that lost a third of its staff after funding was frozen, and found a director who now spends half her time looking for more funding, slowed research progress, and a missing generation of up-and-coming cancer researchers.

NO ABORTION ACCESS? MORE POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION // Researchers looked at data from over 100,000 women before the Supreme Court allowed states to ban abortion, and over 60,000 after the Dobbs decision. They found that states with abortion bans saw a sharp rise (9%) in postpartum depression (PPD) among women in low-income communities. In other words, women who didn’t have the option to get an abortion in their home state faced greater odds of PPD.

DATA BEHIND DOULAS // Maven Clinic reports that Black women who used their platform to meet with a doula twice had a 56% lower risk of C-section, and members who chose a preferred language besides English and used the platform had reduced NICU stays. They announced the findings along with the launch of a “Clinical Research Institute” to have researchers dive deeper into their platform data.

Hear are the trends we spotted this week in women’s health, and as always, scroll for the top clicked stories.

• 🫀 Postpartum and midlife care gaps showed up in the data. New research and editorials flagged specific misses: postpartum blood pressure often isn’t checked after delivery despite guidelines, menopause-related changes to the brain are just getting noticed, and (not shocking but) most Medicaid coverage excludes common postpartum supports like lactation care.
  

• 🧬 Research is sharpening what does and doesn’t drive women’s health risk. Large studies this week added clarity: confirming no link between COVID vaccination and fertility issues, while showing that diseases like diabetes and cancer can follow different biological pathways in women and men, with implications for how prevention and treatment are designed.
  

• 💄 Demand for solutions is outpacing evidence and policy. The beauty industry continues to grow, (faux?) pre-pregnancy wellness trends are gaining traction online, and yet major scientific funding remains flat and coverage gaps persist—highlighting a familiar imbalance between what women are sold, what’s proven, and what’s actually supported.

TOP CLICKED STORIES THIS WEEK

• Menopause linked to changes in the brain’s gray matter // Scientific American
  

• Postpartum blood pressure and long-term heart risk // Hypertension (AHA)
  

• International differences exist in knowledge gaps and most common perimenopause symptoms // Menopause Society
  

• The idea of “trimester zero” in pregnancy // The Cut
  

• Why the beauty industry is booming // The Economist
  

• Arizona expands Medicaid coverage for lactation care // Axios