Tonight: ectopic pregnancies are killing twice as many women as it used to, the FDA's explanation for why you can't find an estrogen patch, and more.
— Meghan McCarthy
TWICE AS MANY WOMEN ARE DYING FROM A CONDITION THAT SHOULDN'T KILL ANYONE
Almost 200 women died after an ectopic pregnancy from 2020 to 2025, compared with about 100 in the previous six years, a ProPublica analysis of CDC data found. The rise happened nationwide but climbed much more steeply in states with strict abortion bans, reaching just over 13 deaths per million live births in 2023-2025 against just over 7 in states without one. Maternal health experts cautioned that bans alone can't explain the increase, but were blunt about the baseline: "A death related to ectopic pregnancy should really be a never event," said Dr. Alice Abernathy, an OB-GYN in Philadelphia.
THE FDA LIFTED THE WARNING. NOW IT SAYS THE SHORTAGE IS WOMEN'S FAULT.
After nearly a year of telling women there was no estrogen patch shortage, the FDA now acknowledges the low supply and is working with six manufacturers to increase it, but it won't formally declare a shortage. Its explanation is demand: the agency removed the black box warning last fall, more women sought estrogen, and manufacturers weren't ready. The pharmacists' association counts almost 20 affected patch formulations, double the number earlier this year, and Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, who met with FDA leadership in April, said it took four months to issue what amounts to a lukewarm statement.
$100 MILLION TO CUT US MATERNAL DEATH RATE IN HALF
Philanthropists Olivia and Tom Walton launched Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America, pledging $100 million over five years to cut the US maternal mortality rate in half by 2031. The CDC counted 688 deaths during or shortly after pregnancy in 2024, and the rate rose to 19 per 100,000 live births from 18.6 the year before. One of the campaign's own pillars is getting hospitals to report deaths faster: the most recent state-level maternal mortality data is still from 2022.
ELI LILLY IS SPENDING ITS GLP-1 MONEY ON ENDOMETRIOSIS
Eli Lilly is using some of the windfall from GLP-1 drugs to build a women's health business, recruiting scientists in osteoporosis and preeclampsia, and investing in outside companies working on endometriosis. In May the company hired reproductive medicine researcher Kelle Moley to lead women's health and early clinical development. Women and girls are nearly half the world's population; women's health has drawn about 6% of private healthcare investment.
AN AMERICAN ENDOMETRIOSIS TEST IS AVAILABLE IN ENGLAND. NOT IN AMERICA.
Endometriosis patients can wait ten years or more after symptoms begin to get a diagnosis for a condition that affects about 1 in 10 women worldwide. Two non-surgical tests exist: EndoSure, a half-hour test from a Maryland company that reads electrical signals in the gut through sensor pads on the abdomen, and Endotest, a French saliva test that looks for microRNAs. UK draft guidance recommends the NHS use both for three years while evidence accumulates, but neither is FDA-approved. EndoSure's founder says his company is still in the process of submitting its application.