August 20, 2026
Tonight: the anti-abortion movement's new target and Wall Street's fertility bet.
— Meghan McCarthy
THE ANTI-ABORTION MOVEMENT'S NEXT TARGET: SURROGACY
Surrogacy has become part of the battle over reproductive rights and abortion. A surrogate in Texas who delivered a baby born with a severe heart defect is fighting the intended parents for custody, accusing them of wanting her to get an abortion. Anti-abortion groups including Live Action and Texas Right to Life are backing the surrogate, and state lawmakers are already floating limits on commercial surrogacy, starting with a ban on foreign nationals using Texas surrogates and restricting third-party egg and sperm donation.
WOMEN ARE NEARLY 70% OF THE HEALTH WORKFORCE, AND THE LOWEST PAID
Women now make up nearly seven in ten health workers worldwide and drove most of the sector's growth since 1990, yet they cluster in its lowest-paid, least-powerful jobs: 81% of nurses and 96% of midwives, but fewer than half of doctors. The first sex-disaggregated global count, published in The Lancet Public Health, spans 204 countries and lands as the world faces a projected shortage of 34 million health workers. Lead author Megan Knight said women “have transformed the global health workforce over the past three decades, but they continue to be concentrated in professions that generally offer lower pay and fewer opportunities for leadership.”
IN A PREGNANCY TRIAL, STRENGTH TRAINING BEAT GESTATIONAL DIABETES
A randomized controlled trial of just over 200 pregnant women who were overweight or obese found no women who stuck with a supervised strength-training program developed gestational diabetes, compared with 7.3% of the control group. No babies in the strength group were born oversized, versus 6.3% of controls, and the exercisers reported a better quality of life. The Spanish trial is small and hinges on sticking with the program, but the signal is worth more investigation.
WALL STREET BETS ON FERTILITY BENEFITS
Wells Fargo thinks Progyny, which helps employers offer IVF and egg-freezing benefits, is poised for growth. The bank recommended buying the company’s stock and predicted its price could rise about 45%, arguing that employers will continue expanding fertility coverage even in a tighter economy. Analysts said the company sits “at the intersection” of demographic pressures, corporate wellness priorities, and healthcare innovation. Nine of the 11 Wall Street analysts covering Progyny now recommend buying it.
THE GIRLS ARRIVE ALREADY DIAGNOSED
By the time many teenage girls and young women reach a psychiatrist, they have already found a name for what they are experiencing: ADHD, OCD, anxiety or depression. Psychiatrist Suzanne Garfinkle-Crowell writes that these labels, often researched on Instagram and TikTok, may function less as firm clinical claims than as borrowed language for pain. Her advice is to take them “seriously but not literally” and listen for what lies beneath the diagnosis. Roughly half of Gen Z reports having a mental-health condition, with girls both driving the trend and experiencing the worst mental-health outcomes.