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EVERYTHING
Clues from the Senate 2026 Health Funding Bill
What: Lobbyist Liz Powell runs through the women's health highlights of the Senate bill that will determine health funding in 2026. It's just a starting point (the bill has to actually pass the House and Senate and then get signed into law), but it's worth noting where things start off. The bill increases NIH's Office of Women's Health Research by $30 million and requires the administration to produce a report on all the canceled women's health grants...and then reinstate them all.
Key Line: "Finally, within 30 days of enactment, the Committee directs NIH to produce a report on all NIH research grants concerning women’s health that have been terminated or renewals that have been withheld since January 20, 2025, including the grant number, grant recipient, and justification for grant termination or funds withheld. Within 60 days of enactment, the Committee directs NIH to reinstate those grants that have been terminated, and provide weekly updates to the Committee on these efforts until they are complete."
Source: LinkedIn // Liz Powell
Idaho Lost More Than a Third of OBs After Abortion Ban
What: Mother Jones reports on a study that found Idaho lost more than a third of its obstetricians between August 2022 and December 2024. Ninety-four of the state's 268 OBs left after abortion bans went into effect. The departure of these doctors has created serious gaps in maternity care across the state.
Key Line: "That figure combines the 114 who left their jobs and 20 OBs who moved to Idaho during the study period. It includes physicians who left the state—the most common outcome, accounting for about half of the total departures, according to J. Edward McEachern, the paper’s lead author—as well as those who stopped practicing obstetrics, closed their in-state practices, or retired."
Source: Mother Jones
The Consequences of Cutting Women's Health Funding
What: Stat reports that breakthroughs in women's health, such as a one-dose HPV vaccine and long-acting HIV medication, are at risk due to funding gaps -- many brought on by the Trump administration. And that lack of resources threatens progress.
Key Line: "Five of [Massachusetts General Hospital's Ruanne] Barnabas’ grants were affected by federal funding changes and by cuts to Harvard University. She said that the hardest part for her has been losing the partnerships and connections she has developed over years of working together. “The hardest things are all the deep relationships and partnerships that you build over many years in order to move science forward. To have those stopped — in the midst of clinical trials and other things — that is very hard for participants, for partners, for being able to safely transition people out,” Barnabas said at the event."
Source: STAT
BIRTH CONTROL
How the Trump Administration is Limiting Birth Control Access
What: NPR breaks down how the Trump administration is limiting access to birth control by cutting Title X funding for clinics around the country. Title X is a program established in the 1960s to give low-income Americans free contraception. The Trump administration froze these funds under the guise of fighting DEI, but the ultimate result is restricting contraception access for hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Key line: "That's still the funding that Stephanie McDowell relies on to run her public health program or did until a few months ago. 'We received a letter late in the afternoon on March 31 that our grant year for funding that was to begin on April 1, the next day was being withheld.' McDowell works at an organization called Bridgercare in Montana. They oversee 20 reproductive health clinics across the State. The Department of Health and Human Services withheld their funding because it said Bridgercare made public statements that violated the Civil Rights Act and recent executive orders from the Trump administration. 'In our letter, they were citing like statements of anti-racism. So, statements that might be what we would commonly understand is like DEI efforts.'"
Source: NPR
METABOLISM + WEIGHT LOSS
Nearly 12% of Americans Have Used GLP-1 Drugs
What: A survey from RAND found that nearly 12% of Americans have used GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, with women ages 50 to 64 making up one-fifth of that group. And women make up the vast majority of users between 30 and 49.
Key Line: "Use of GLP-1 drugs is most common among those between the ages of 50 and 64, with the highest rate of use found among women in the age group. Among those 65 and older, use of GLP-1 drugs is somewhat higher for men than for women. Conversely, among those between the ages of 30 and 49, women are more than twice as likely to have used a GLP-1 than their male peers."
Source: RAND Corporation
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