Hear are the top things to know in women’s health and wellness so far this week:
The New York Time editorial board makes it clear: access to abortion pills is vital throughout the United States, and it is under threat.
It’s not shocking, but the more guns a state has per capita, the more dead pregnant women by gun violence there are.
A potentially deadly condition known as placenta accreta has increased over recent years. Reporters dig into how hospitals are trying (and often failing) to treat it.
JUMP TO…
EVERYTHING
What: The 19th looks at parents navigating perimenopause while raising kids in puberty, and how they deal with the overlapping emotional and physical upheavals. Through reader stories and advice from psychologist Lisa Damour, the piece highlights how both stages bring big but different neurological and hormonal changes. Damour urges separating kids’ “brain renovation” from adults’ hormone shifts and reminds that taking care of your own needs is part of good parenting.
Key Line: “One thing that’s true for both kids going through puberty and their grown-ups going through perimenopause? ‘Development is inherently challenging,’ Damour said. ‘Change equals stress.’ And this is hard on kids and parents alike.”
My Take: Gen X and Elder Millennials are perhaps the first generations entering this dual hormonal challenge with the knowledge of what’s happening. May the odds be ever in your favor.
Source: The 19th
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
What: The New York Times has a deep dive on placenta accreta, a condition where the placenta grows into scar tissue from a prior C-section. It is becoming more common, and it can be fatal. They tell the story of Holly Baumstark, a woman who died at age 27 after doctors discovered her placenta had fused to her uterus during surgery.
Key Line: “Doctors are getting better at spotting accreta on ultrasounds before birth. But many women still go into labor undiagnosed. Obstetricians often do not have the expertise to handle a complex delivery, or even enough donor blood on hand. Dr. Julie Kang, a Miami obstetrician, took notice of the condition in 2016, when she treated two severe cases within a week of each other. ‘We’re going to see more of these,’ she recalled thinking. She opened a clinic specializing in the condition at her hospital, Memorial Regional, and treated nine accreta patients the next year. Her caseload has steadily marched upward, hitting 62 in 2024.”
My Take: We need research on why this is happening more often (simply an increase in C-sections?) and treating it should become the norm. Let me know what you think: [email protected]
Source: The New York Times
What: A state-level study from JAMA Network Open found homicide rates among pregnant women increase with gun ownership rates. Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital analyzed 7,063 homicides across 37 states from 2018–2021 and found pregnant women faced a 37% higher firearm homicide rate than nonpregnant women, with Black women making up most victims. For each 1% rise in state gun ownership, firearm-related homicides of pregnant women increased by 8%.
Key Line: “It is such an awful phenomenon that’s occurring in this country,” said Maeve Wallace, an epidemiologist and associate professor of public health at the University of Arizona. Wallace’s research has shown homicide to be a leading cause of pregnancy-associated death. Wallace, who wasn’t involved in the new study, said it points to how lax firearm policies put women at risk. ‘There’s been a real failure to address it at multiple levels, including in maternity care, in communities and addressing the ability for people to thrive and be safe and healthy,’ she said.”
My Take: Part of the failure is likely due to the decades-long ban on federal research on gun ownership that didn’t lift in 2018.
Source: Stateline
ABORTION ACCESS
What: The New York Times Editorial Board explains that despite post-Roe abortion bans in many states, overall abortion rates have risen because abortion pills are often prescribed via telehealth and let people safely end pregnancies at home. Roughly one in four U.S. abortions now occurs this way, showing how medication has reshaped access to care. But Republican lawmakers are pushing new state and federal limits that could shut down this critical option unless supporters of reproductive rights push back.
Key Line: “Instead, the number of women receiving abortions has increased nationwide, even in most states with bans. ‘That brings us to the more enduring solution to this problem: Congress should set a floor that allows for basic access to abortion in every state. Such a law would return the country to a version of the legal landscape before the Supreme Court allowed burdensome restrictions in the 1990s and then reversed Roe v. Wade entirely in 2022 with Dobbs.’”
My Take: That enduring solution is far off, but it still means something when the NYT editorial board says it should happen.
Source: The New York Times
MENOPAUSE
What: JAMA Internal Medicine tracks how menopausal hormone therapy has shifted from being praised as a cure-all for aging and menopause symptoms to a source of medical controversy. It notes that, for years, MHT was promoted to prevent a range of conditions without solid trial evidence. But it can still help millions of women.
Key Line: “Debate about MHT is unlikely to disappear soon. What is the path forward? One step is liberating MHT from the unrealistic cultural expectations weighing it down. Menopause—and more importantly, midlife aging in women—is not a simple estrogen deficiency state but a multisystem biological and psychological transition, driven by far more than change in any one hormone.”
My Take: The author makes these points but also points out that women—half of the world’s population—will spend half their lives in peri or post-menopausal years.
Source: JAMA Internal Medicine