too gross for laws?

October 1, 2026

Tonight: Tierra Walker’s family turns the “right to life” argument back on Texas, a lawmaker would like everyone to stop discussing menopause, and more.

— Meghan McCarthy

Tierra Walker’s family is suing Texas officials, medical authorities, and her doctors over her death after she repeatedly sought an abortion. Writing in Slate, legal historian Mary Ziegler explains the strategy: bring those defendants into the same case, where they’ll have to answer for their roles. Walker suffered seizures, a dangerous blood clot, and soaring blood pressure; her family says doctors dismissed her abortion requests because her baby was fine. Ziegler expects finger-pointing—including at Walker’s preexisting conditions. But the suit turns abortion opponents’ own argument back on them: if the Texas and U.S. constitutions protect a right to life, that includes pregnant women.

Science devoted a special issue to women’s health, including a review of why women bear more of the burden of many chronic pain conditions. The authors examine hormones, immune responses, and the body’s own pain-control systems. They credit a 2016 NIH policy requiring researchers to account for biological sex with helping move the field beyond documenting differences toward explaining them. The goal: answers that lead to better care and end the all-too-familiar dismissal that women’s illnesses are “all in your head.”

A male colleague told Pennsylvania state Rep. Liz Hanbidge he would support her menopause bill—then asked her to stop discussing it because “he thinks it’s gross,” she said. She kept talking. Seven proposals advanced through House committees this week, covering menopause education, insurance coverage for treatment and pelvic floor therapy, workplace accommodations, osteoporosis care, and vaginal estrogen for menopausal symptoms and UTIs. One would expand Medicaid coverage of menopause treatments. Some Republicans opposed the bills, citing concerns including costs.

Among commercially insured women, the share starting a GLP-1 drug within six months of giving birth rose from 0.08% in early 2018 to 1.9% in early 2025, a JAMA study found. Women with type 2 diabetes were most likely to start treatment: nearly 17% did by early 2025. In total numbers, though, women with overweight or obesity made up the largest group of new users by late 2024. Most women started at least three months after delivery. One question is what this means for breastfeeding, as safety data is limited and claims data couldn’t show who was nursing.

Sepsis occurred in about six of every 10,000 Mississippi hospital births from 2016 through 2025—but was linked to nearly a third of deaths during delivery stays. A JAMA Network Open study found rates were twice as high among Black mothers as white mothers, and higher among women on Medicaid than those with private insurance. More than half of women with sepsis delivered prematurely, and nearly 18% had a stillbirth. Their hospital stays averaged 10 days and about $135,000 in charges, compared with 2.5 days and $23,000 for women without sepsis.