September 22, 2026
Tonight: a single person could veto federal medical research grants in the future, the cheap drug prescribed to surprisingly few women, and more.
— Meghan McCarthy
ONE OFFICIAL COULD VETO NIH RESEARCH GRANTS
President Trump reportedly told an administration official to create a board that would approve National Institutes of Health grants, after NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya refused his request to cut funding for Harvard researchers. Grant decisions under this scheme would require unanimous approval, which could give any Trump appointee veto power over money that is currently doled out through scientific peer review, advisory councils, and NIH leadership. The Society for Women’s Health Research warned that the proposal could shift decisions “away from scientific merit toward political priorities.”
A WARNING LABEL OUTLIVED THE SCIENCE
More than 22,000 women ages 55 to 69 might have survived if they had received vaginal estrogen for recurring UTIs, according to a USA TODAY analysis of eight years of medical records. Of the group, 1.5% of those prescribed vaginal estrogen died from any cause, compared with 7.3% of those who weren’t prescribed it. A three-month supply of generic cream can cost $13, yet only about 1 in 10 menopausal women on Medicare currently use vaginal estrogen. Why? The FDA only removed black box warnings in November 2025. The lives-saved figure is an estimate: the study found an association and cannot prove estrogen prevented those deaths.
THREE STATES PASSED POSTPARTUM MENTAL HEALTH LAWS. SEVEN DIDN’T.
Stateline reports that some experts think the Lindsay Clancy mistrial could push states to pass more postpartum mental health laws. In the past year, Maryland and Virginia governors signed laws requiring some insurers to cover postpartum depression screening, and Illinois passed a law intended to support screening during home visits. But similar bills failed in seven other states. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is seeking $2 million to expand a free postpartum nurse-visit program from 3,000 households a year to 68,000. The head of the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health has a test for whether it helps: Will insurers pay for mental health care, and can new mothers get that care through one coordinated practice?
THE FIBROID DRUGS AMERICAN WOMEN CAN’T GET
Mifepristone and the emergency contraceptive ulipristal both block progesterone, and studies around the world have found they can shrink uterine fibroids by up to 50%. Physicians in China and India already prescribe them for fibroids and endometriosis, but in the United States the most common treatment for fibroids remains hysterectomy. That’s in part due to anti-abortion groups that have campaigned against mifepristone for decades and Louisiana, Texas, and Florida are now suing to restrict it. Fibroids affect 70% of white women and more than 80% of Black women by age 50, and it takes more than three years on average before a woman gets treated.
TURNS OUT YOU CAN NUMB THE UTERUS FIRST
In a randomized trial of 370 women who had never given birth, putting 10 milliliters of the local anesthetic mepivacaine into the uterus before IUD placement lowered average pain scores from 58.6 to 43.8 on a 100-point scale. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists only started recommending pain relief measures for IUD placements in May 2025. This trial points to another way to make placement easier.