Tonight: how crash test dummies built for men have left women more likely to die in a car accident for 50 years, exactly where women are dying during pregnancy, 13 states targeted by Trump for requiring insurers offer abortion coverage, and more.
— Meghan McCarthy
PHILLY SAID "HOLD MY WEIGHTED VEST" // A Villanova law professor argues that a Philadelphia city ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on menstruation, perimenopause, and menopause should be a model for the rest of the country. The law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to workers whose symptoms substantially interfere with their ability to do their jobs. Accommodations might include flexible bathroom breaks, breathable uniforms, or temperature control, modest asks that could make a real difference for retail and service workers who don't have the luxury of working from home when a hot flash hits.
BUILT FOR THE WRONG BODY // For more than 50 years, federal car safety standards have been designed around a male body, and women are paying for it with their lives. While a new female crash dummy was announced by a federal agency at the end of last year, Eve Van Dyke has a great op-ed video in the New York Times diving into the history of how we got here and why Congress must pass legislation to force the actual use of female crash test dummies.
13 STATES, ONE FEDERAL INVESTIGATION // The Trump administration has launched investigations into the 13 states that require health insurers to cover abortion. It says those states are violating the Weldon Amendment, a law that says health entities don’t have to cover abortion. The Biden administration interpreted the law as applying to health care providers, not employers and insurers. But the Trump administration reversed that position this year. Legal scholars say the question hasn't been resolved in court.
THE COMPLICATIONS NOBODY SEES COMING // Nearly 45% of severe pregnancy complications occur outside the delivery room, either before labor begins or after discharge, according to research from McMaster University. The finding challenges a model of obstetric care that concentrates largely on the birth itself and raises the question of whether prenatal and postpartum monitoring gets enough attention to catch what's actually killing pregnant women.
ABORTION NUMBERS HELD IN 2025 // Despite bans and restrictions in more than a dozen states, the total number of abortions in the U.S. remained essentially flat in 2025, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The data shows that while women traveling out of state for care dropped from 2024 to 2025, medication abortion via telehealth increased to make up for that gap (and then some.)