[[link removed]] Ms. Memo: This Week in Women's Rights
July 19, 2023
From the ongoing fight for abortion rights and access, to elections, to the drive for the Equal Rights Amendment, there are a multitude of battles to keep up with. In this weekly roundup, find the absolute need-to-know news for feminists.
Anti-Abortion Politics Hinder Access to Important Fibroid Treatment: Mifepristone [[link removed]]
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There are two different ways to have a medication abortion and end a pregnancy: using two different medicines, mifepristone (pictured) and misoprostol, or using only misoprostol. Studies have shown that mifepristone can can significantly reduce the size of uterine fibroids. (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)
BY CARRIE N. BAKER | Mifepristone has long been politicized by abortion opponents—who have tried to block FDA approval of the medication in the 1990s and are still suing to remove it from the market, despite extensive evidence showing that medication abortion is very safe. But beyond the drug’s uses as an abortion pill, its effectiveness as a treatment for fibroids is going largely unknown and undiscussed. For patients with fibroids, mifepristone could ease pain and reduce the need for invasive surgery. But restrictions placed on mifepristone in response to anti-abortion threats have made mifepristone unavailable for treating fibroids.
Millions of U.S. women are debilitated each year by fibroids, which are noncancerous growths of the uterus that can cause heavy periods, severe pain and difficulty conceiving. Over 26 million women in the U.S. have fibroids, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. By the age of 50, up to 70 percent of white women and 80 percent of Black women have fibroids. Fibroids are often treated with invasive surgery to remove the fibroids or with hysterectomies.
Extensive research has shown that mifepristone can significantly reduce fibroids. Yet, it is not available for that use in the United States.
Between 2003 and 2011, Dr. Steven Eisinger, a board-certified ob-gyn and professor at the University of Rochester, along with his colleagues, published six peer-reviewed articles showing mifepristone was effective for treating fibroids.
Eisinger described what he observed when giving mifepristone to women with fibroids.
“Right away, it was obvious: It was a great success. The fibroids shrunk. The bleeding stopped. Patients’ quality of life improved dramatically. They felt better, had more energy, more color in their cheeks. They would go about life with a lot more enthusiasm. The scores on quality of life were so dramatically different that we actually considered the possibility that mifepristone was a mood enhancer.”
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The GOP Wages a War on Drag [[link removed]] Iowa’s ‘Six-Week’ Abortion Ban Is Blocked For Now. But Remember: ‘Six Weeks’ Is Actually Two [[link removed]]
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Lawyers Say Catherine Kassenoff’s Case—and Thousands of Others—Violate U.S. Constitutional Right to Due Process [[link removed]] Immigrant Justice Is Reproductive Justice: Latin Communities Under Attack Post-Roe [[link removed]]
What we're reading
Because it's hard to keep up with everything going on in the world right now. Here's what we're reading this week:
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"She
performed
an
abortion
on
a
10-year-old
rape
victim.
The
right
vilified
her”
—
The
Guardian
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[link removed] [[link removed]] Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on Apple Podcasts [[link removed]] + Spotify [[link removed]] .
In early June 2023, for the second time in two months, Trump was indicted—this time on 37 felony counts for allegedly mishandling sensitive, classified government materials and obstruction of justice. What does this most recent indictment mean for Trump, the 2024 elections, and the future of American democracy as a whole?
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