if men help, more kids

• A Harvard economist found fertility rates dropped the most in countries where the division of household work and childcare was most unequal. In other words, there are more kids when men participate in daily life activities more. 
   
• The British medical journal BMJ has an editorial calling for less "menopause misinformation," specifically warning against direct-to-consumer hormone testing. 
   
• This is not something I typically include, but it's important to keep tabs on publications calling for the *criminalization* of birth control.  

Countries with More Involved Men Have Higher Fertility Rates

What: The 19th breaks down a new paper from Harvard economist Claudia Goldin. She found that countries where men help more with household tasks and childcare also have higher fertility rates. In other words, women want to ensure that their partners will share responsibilities before having kids. To find this association, Goldin looked at two groups of countries: the first had a more equal (if not 50/50) split of household and childcare duties, the second had a very unequal division. Fertility rates had plummeted in countries with less equal division of labor.

Key line: "The time difference for [tasks in] Japan, for example, is 3.1 hours and is 3 hours for Italy. Their [fertility rates in 2019] were 1.36 and 1.27 respectively. But for Sweden, the time difference was 0.8 hours and Denmark’s was 0.9. Their [fertility rates in 2019] were both 1.7."

Source: The 19th, The Downside of Fertility
 

Why Menstrual Cups Remain Underused

What: Medscape breaks down a systematic review on why menstrual cups aren't more widely used, despite being cheaper and better for the environment than sanitary pads and tampons. Researchers found that lack of awareness, misinformation, and sociocultural barriers play a significant role in their underutilization.

Key Line: "The findings showed that disposable pads were the most widely used, with rates of up to 90%, while regular use of menstrual cups was under 5%. One major obstacle to using menstrual cups, highlighted in most studies, is the lack of information and awareness. In India, more than 90% of the participants had heard of the cup, whereas in South Africa, only 1 in 5 girls knew about it before a training session."

Source: Medscape
 

Catholic Magazine Columnist: 'Make Birth Control Illegal Again'

What: I don't usually include pieces like this, but its important to track what Trump supporters are writing about women's health. This column in a Catholic magazine goes through the timeline of birth control gaining mainstream acceptance, and then essentially says it should be made illegal once more, because it was illegal in the past.

Key Line: "Not only did all churches condemn birth control as recently as 100 years ago, but even the government once prohibited the distribution of artificial contraceptives...The likelihood of criminalizing birth control at this point is slim. But Comstock gives a great to-do list for those who want to see the populace flourish: 1) criminalize abortion 2) ban contraception."

Source: Crisis Magazine

Bans Can’t Stop the Abortion Pill

What: New York magazine explains how one lawyer is going after Aid Access, a Dutch company that helps providers in the US get abortion pills to women in abortion ban states. (The group has been around for more than 25 years.) But those cases may backfire as they draw more attention to the accessibility and effectiveness of medication abortion.

Key Line: “'The anti-abortion movement caught their white whale, but they didn’t get what they wanted,' says law professor David S. Cohen. 'They have absolutely failed in at least the stated goal, which is to reduce abortions.'”

Source: New York Magazine
 

Menopause Misinfo Warning

What: The BMJ has a blunt message on direct-to-consumer menopause products, such as hormone testing and supplements: they are "unnecessary and do not improve care." And they caution that it is leading an increasing number of women to get compounded hormone treatments that have not been tested for efficacy or safety.

Key Line: "...Many women now present with detailed hormone panels from wellness providers or online services that are often used to justify taking custom-made hormone preparations or supplements based on marginal deviations from hormone thresholds that are not grounded in evidence, write the authors. Such custom-made hormone preparations (known as compounded hormone regimens) are not regulated in the same way as standard menopausal hormone therapy and have not been tested for effectiveness and safety."

Source: BMJ