Tonight: a $215 million push for menopause care, the proven treatment almost no one was using in 2023, and more.
MELINDA GATES BETS $215 MILLION ON MIDLIFE Gates announced $215 million in new funding for women's reproductive and midlife health, her first major investment focused on perimenopause and menopause. It is part of a broader $600 million women's health commitment her organization has made over the next two years. She's partnering with the Menopause Society to expand menopause training in OB-GYN residencies, primary care, and nursing programs, addressing a gap that leaves many women struggling to find clinicians who understand the transition.
ILLINOIS PASSES A SHIELD FOR ABORTION RECORDS Illinois lawmakers passed the Reproductive Health Privacy Act, which allows patients to block abortion care and gender-dysphoria diagnoses from the electronic records hospitals routinely share across state lines. Sponsors said some patients who traveled to Illinois for abortions were later dropped by home-state physicians after the procedure appeared in their charts. The records aren't deleted, only shielded from out-of-state access without patient consent. Gov. JB Pritzker has said he'll sign the bill.
HORMONE THERAPY WORKS. HARDLY ANYONE WAS TAKING IT IN 2023. Hormone therapy for menopause fell from more than 4% of women 40 and older in 2007 to under 2% in 2023. Among women ages 50 to 59 (the group most likely to benefit), only about 3.5% used it, according to a Mayo Clinic analysis. Usage remains near its lowest point since the 2002 Women's Health Initiative study triggered widespread fears about hormone therapy, despite strong evidence that treatment is safe and effective for many women under 60. The FDA recently removing the black box warning on HRT, which may increase use in more recent years.
THE FERTILITY AND ALCOHOL MESSAGE ISN'T COMPUTING. Ninety percent of women of childbearing age know drinking during pregnancy is unsafe, up from 82% a year earlier. But only about two-thirds know they should stop drinking before conception, according to an Annenberg survey of around 1,600 adults. The gap matters: federal data show more than one in eight pregnant adults reported drinking in the past month.
LIFT THE MALPRACTICE CAP, LOSE THE MIDWIFE? After Georgia and Illinois removed caps on malpractice damages, physician-attended births in rural counties rose by nearly 3 percentage points even though overall birth rates didn't change, according to a Harvard analysis of more than 20 million births. The likely explanation is liability risk: hospitals facing larger potential lawsuits appear more likely to favor physician-attended deliveries over midwife-attended ones. Researchers found no corresponding change in C-sections, inductions, or infant outcomes, suggesting the shift reflected risk management rather than better care.