<![CDATA[Paging America: The Situation Womb]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/s/the-situation-wombhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ALPj!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F30a1183b-a668-4a03-9e7e-86440a500e9d_1200x1200.pngPaging America: The Situation Wombhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/s/the-situation-wombSubstackThu, 05 Nov 2026 17:56:47 GMT<![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Vote Like Your Healthcare Depends On It]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-vote-like-yourhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-vote-like-yourMon, 02 Nov 2026 22:02:33 GMTThe midterm elections are HERE and healthcare is on the ballot. In this pre-election episode of The Situation Womb, the hosts share their voting plans and break down the week’s biggest stories at the intersection of reproductive health and politics.

The episode opens with a rare win in North Carolina, where the Durham County DA dropped charges against a teenage couple who ordered abortion pills and then called 911 when she went into preterm labor. The hosts discuss why criminalizing people in crisis makes everyone less safe. From there, they turn to the news that a federal appeals panel appears poised to let North Carolina require in-person prescribing of mifepristone, and why that matters well beyond one state.

They also look at what stigma and legal barriers are costing us in research, from Gulf War illness and breast cancer prevention to endometriosis and fibroids, all conditions where mifepristone shows promise.

A new KFF study finds that most women of reproductive age in ban states don’t know how to access abortion medication online, and the hosts talk about how groups like Mayday Health are getting creative about reaching them. They also highlight an Ohio organization that is reimagining the crisis pregnancy center model by pairing abortion care with adoption support, mutual aid, and free resources under one roof.

Then, Money that Congress had already appropriated for family planning abroad is being redirected to offset energy costs, with life-and-death consequences. The hosts also discuss reports of denied prenatal care, miscarriages, and stillbirths in ICE detention, and the lack of transparency around them.

Along the way, they cover the confusing ballot language in Missouri, the abortion rights measures in Idaho, Nevada, and Virginia, and why every vote counts.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: When Pregnancy Become A Crime]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-when-pregnancyhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-when-pregnancyMon, 26 Oct 2026 20:27:50 GMTSince Dobbs, pregnancy and pregnancy loss have been treated as crimes in at least 902 cases across 23 states, according to a new report from Pregnancy Justice. Most of the people charged are low-income. Nearly all of the cases involved allegations of substance use, including dozens of people who were taking prescribed medications like suboxone or methadone. Others were accused over a lack of prenatal care, even in places where NO prenatal care exists.

Our hosts this week, Drs. Erin Stevens and Dr. Chelsea Daniels, break down the report and what it means for patients and providers. We also look at the new White House women’s health task force and who is on it, and explain why “falling fertility” headlines are really about birth rates and why that difference matters. We dig into a new study suggesting viability limits don’t sway voters as much as we thought, and a JAMA Internal Medicine study showing the FDA-required mifepristone patient form doesn’t improve patient understanding.

Finally, we discuss Idaho’s OB-GYN exodus and what it looks like when half the state’s counties have no obstetrician.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Alice Miranda Ollstein on How Abortion Bans Impact Everyone’s Health]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-alice-mirandahttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-alice-mirandaMon, 19 Oct 2026 21:01:54 GMTWhat happens when lawmakers write medical rules without doctors in the room? Politico senior healthcare reporter Alice Miranda Ollstein joins hosts Drs. Erin Stevens and Chris Ford to talk about her new book, Side Effects: How Abortion Bans Impact Everyone’s Health (out October 27 and available for pre-order now).

Alice explains why vague phrases like “significant impairment of a major bodily function” leave physicians guessing, and how that confusion pushes doctors toward “wait and see” care that research shows can be dangerous. She breaks down why the threat of state enforcement looms larger for doctors than the risk of federal investigations or malpractice suits, and what that imbalance means for patients in an emergency.

We also talk about how abortion bans are affecting oncologists, rheumatologists, and neurologists, and why medical societies that never took a position on abortion are now speaking up. Alice shares what she learned from sitting down with patients whose delayed care led to lasting medical consequences, and why those stories go deeper than the bullet points in a lawsuit. We discuss why physicians who get political after Dobbs often find lawmakers won’t meet with them on other issues, and why many decide the trade-off is worth it.

We take a look at what ballot measure results in states like Ohio, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Montana say about public opinion in red states, the divisions within the anti-abortion movement over telehealth, enforcement, and contraception, and the shifting politics of teen pregnancy and Title X.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: GOP Delays Mifepristone Review Until After the Midterms]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-gop-delays-mifepristonehttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-gop-delays-mifepristoneMon, 12 Oct 2026 20:28:18 GMTThis week on The Situation Womb, Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Dr. Erin Stevens, and Dr. Chelsea Daniels break down the news at the intersection of reproductive health care and politics.

The FDA’s mifepristone review is on hold until after the midterms, with the review set to wrap in mid-December and a report due in March. The hosts explain why the agency’s framing of the review as mifepristone versus surgical abortion doesn’t make clinical sense, and why they don’t trust the safety data that comes out of it. They also cover a Louisiana lawsuit challenging the telehealth provision, and reporting that the White House told the Justice Department to move slowly on abortion-related actions before Election Day.

From there, the conversation turns to Wisconsin, where Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley is proposing to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution, in contrast to his opponent Tom Tiffany. In Nevada, Patience Rousseau, who spent two years in jail after a 2018 miscarriage, has received $1.6 million from a rural county, and the hosts discuss what her case reveals about criminalizing pregnancy outcomes and limited access to care.

They also look at a new University of Michigan study linking abortion bans to higher out-of-pocket health insurance premium spending for women, nearly $9 million in federal reproductive health grants going to two organizations with anti-abortion ties, and Secretary Sean Duffy’s proposal to tie transportation funding to marriage and birth rates.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Taxpayer Dollars for Fake Clinics]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-taxpayer-dollarshttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-taxpayer-dollarsMon, 05 Oct 2026 20:49:09 GMTThis week on The Situation Womb, Drs. Kristin Lyerly, Erin Stevens, Chelsea Daniels, and Chris Ford. break down the latest news at the intersection of reproductive healthcare and politics.

The Trump administration is refusing to spend billions of dollars Congress already appropriated for health programs, including teen pregnancy prevention, and the hosts ask what that means for patients. North Carolina is sending more than $10.7 million to crisis pregnancy centers, and the hosts share what they’ve seen from these centers in their own clinics. Students for Life is pushing a “clean water” campaign over mifepristone traces in the water supply, and the hosts look at what the science says and doesn’t say.

Attorneys general from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama are asking the Supreme Court to allow a challenge to shield laws in California, Massachusetts, and New York. Dr. Ford and Dr. Lyerly explain what’s at stake for patients and providers. Dr. Daniels reports on new California laws expanding who can provide procedural abortion care, supporting veterans, protecting gender-diverse patients from insurance discrimination, and strengthening privacy in electronic health records.

Finally, we take a look at the prospect of reversible male contraception. Could this become a reality?

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Band-Aids on an Arterial Bleed]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-band-aids-on-anhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-band-aids-on-anMon, 28 Sep 2026 20:16:24 GMTThis week on The Situation Womb, Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Dr. Chris Ford, and Dr. Erin Stevens open with the Cornell case and the response online, and share a reminder for survivors: it was not your fault. Support is available through the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE.

Then it’s on to the news. New data shows more than 12 million women who rely on low-cost or free birth control could lose access if Planned Parenthood funding cuts go through, and clinics have already closed that may never reopen, even if the money returns. At the same time, three GOP members of Congress have introduced the LARC Access Expansion Act, which would fund training and device inventory for IUDs and implants in rural clinics. The hosts are cautiously hopeful, but they also question the timing, five weeks before the midterms, and the sponsors’ votes on the Big Beautiful Bill.

An Ohio House bill would let pharmacists prescribe birth control. About 30 states already allow it, but low awareness, reimbursement problems, and Republican roadblocks in Wisconsin keep it from working the way it should. We also tackle the explosion of birth control disinformation online, including the false claim that hormonal contraception harms future fertility, and how evidence-based providers can push back.

Then there’s the disastrous Senate hearing for FDA nominee Heidi Overton, with non-answers on whether an IUD is an abortion and whether healthcare is a human right, and why even Sen. Josh Hawley’s objections could sink the nomination. In Tennessee, a nonprofit that connects people to out-of-state abortion care is fighting back against the Attorney General’s demands for records, raising First Amendment and patient privacy concerns. And the hosts break down why Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill protecting providers from extradition over abortion and gender-affirming care, and what it could mean for patients.

Plus: advocacy updates, a tailgate for democracy at a Packers game, and what to watch as the midterms approach.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: They Want You To Believe You're Drinking Abortions]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-they-want-youhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-they-want-youMon, 21 Sep 2026 20:48:16 GMTSomeone wants you to believe your tap water is full of other people’s abortions. Drs. Kristin Lyerly and Erin Stevens follow the trail from a new EPA water study back to Students for Life, and explain why it’s a distraction while lead, PFAS, and nitrates go unaddressed.

In Kansas, a Senate race no one was watching just got interesting. Democrat Adam Hamilton is closing in on Sen. Roger Marshall, the OB-GYN who sued more than 700 of his own patients over unpaid bills, some as small as $101, and had 81 of them arrested.

Then the hosts look at the 21 million women living in contraception deserts, including much of Minnesota, and at two Minnesota women suing Planned Parenthood over “coerced” abortions. What does the complaint actually say, and who are they blaming?

ICE is detaining a record number of pregnant people and has stopped counting miscarriages. They’re using a “no data, no problem” playbook that also gutted maternal mortality review committees.

Plus, in Texas, the family of Tierra Walker is suing Ken Paxton after she was denied a life-saving abortion, a heartbreaking case that could show why abortion ban exceptions are just words on a page. And in Michigan, students are being forced to hand over their menstrual history just to sit out swim class.

There’s good news, too. A federal court rejected a Washington State church’s attempt to avoid covering abortion in its employee health plan, and telehealth has helped triple medication abortion use in Hawaii, where getting care means crossing water.

Plus, early voting is underway, so the hosts share tips for making a voting plan, and they preview a tailgate for democracy in Green Bay.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Suing Trump and Winning: Skye Perryman Tells All]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-suing-trump-andhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-suing-trump-andMon, 14 Sep 2026 20:17:28 GMTThis week, Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Dr. Erin Stevens, and Dr. Chris Ford dig into a troubling new data trend: deaths from ectopic pregnancies have nearly doubled nationally since 2020. In states with strict abortion bans, that rate has almost quadrupled compared to states without them. We also note that the CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health, the very team that would investigate these deaths, has been largely sidelined, leaving major questions unanswered.

From there, the conversation turns to the ongoing legal battle over mifepristone access. We break down last week’s developments in the Louisiana case against the FDA, which seeks to ban telehealth prescribing of the medication nationwide, and a separate case out of Texas and Florida aiming to revoke the drug’s FDA approval entirely.

We also spotlight HHS’s decision to cancel Office of Minority Health grants funding infant mortality prevention, cancer screening, and postpartum home visits — reportedly to redirect resources toward erectile dysfunction and sperm count research. Second, revelations about Senator Dr. Roger Marshall of Kansas, a former OBGYN who, while in private practice, sued roughly 700 of his own patients and had more than 80 arrested over unpaid medical bills as small as $101. On a brighter note, they highlight a $100 million philanthropic commitment from the Walton family aimed at cutting the U.S. maternal mortality rate in half by 2031.

Kristin and Erin sit down with Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, an organization that has sued the Trump administration hundreds of times and WON the majority of those cases. Skye walks through two active lawsuits: one challenging changes to Title X family planning funding alongside Planned Parenthood, and another defending teen pregnancy prevention grants in Hennepin County, Minnesota, a program with a strong evidence base that the administration is attempting to redirect toward unproven, ideologically driven approaches. Skye explains what’s legally and practically at stake in both cases, and why she sees them as part of a broader pattern of using politics to override science-based healthcare policy.

Skye then discusses her new book, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times, a practical guide for people who want to get involved but don’t know where to start. She offers concrete ways listeners can plug into advocacy work at whatever level fits their time and capacity.

The episode wraps with reminders about voter registration deadlines ahead of the midterms and a call for listeners to stay engaged in the fight for evidence-based reproductive healthcare

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: A Conversation with CEO of Reproductive Futures, Julie Kay]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/a-conversation-with-ceo-of-reproductivehttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/a-conversation-with-ceo-of-reproductiveMon, 07 Sep 2026 16:02:04 GMTHost Dr Erin Stevens sits down with Julie Kay. Julie is the founder and CEO of Reproductive Futures, human rights attorney, and co-author of Controlling Women: What We Must Do Now to Save Reproductive Freedom. Together, they unpack the legal landscape of abortion access in a post-Dobbs America.

The conversation covers how telehealth and mifepristone access have become an unexpected bright spot since Dobbs, the escalating legal attacks on medication abortion (including the case out of Louisiana), how shield laws protect providers across state lines, the criminalization of patients and providers in states like Texas and Louisiana, and why emergency room clinicians are being trained to navigate murky post-Dobbs laws without delaying care.

Julie also speaks candidly about upcoming political appointments, the power of voting in every election and the lessons she carries from Ireland’s reproductive rights movement into the fight ahead in the U.S.

A candid, clear-eyed, and ultimately hopeful conversation about strategy, resilience, and what it will take to protect reproductive freedom going forward.

Learn more about Reproductive Futures: https://www.reproductivefutures.org/

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Indiana's Abortion Ban Is Breaking Emergency Rooms]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-indianas-abortionhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-indianas-abortionMon, 31 Aug 2026 20:18:13 GMTThis week on The Situation Womb, Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Erin Stevens, and Dr. Chris Ford open with a look back at Olivia Rodrigo’s star-studded “Daisy Chain Fields” benefit concert that helped raise over $20 million for reproductive health organizations.

A new study out of Indiana showing that the state’s near-total abortion ban is making ER doctors more hesitant to independently treat pregnant patients. Dr Ford, an ER physician, walks through a new study out of Indianapolis examining how the ban in Indiana is reshaping behavior inside emergency departments. Not because the law explicitly tells doctors what they can't do, but because the resulting legal uncertainty is enough on its own to change clinical decision-making. The study found that ER physicians are now more hesitant to independently manage pregnant patients who present with vaginal bleeding, and are instead more likely to defer that care to OB-GYN specialists. These are physicians who are often already overextended and, in many parts of the state, simply not available in time.

The conversation then shifts to a disturbing case involving a Navy civilian engineer, Elsie Dominguez, whose lawsuit over being raped by a ship’s captain was dismissed as a workers’ comp/labor dispute issue. Sorry, but being raped isn’t “part of the job” for service members.

On a more hopeful note, the hosts cover Missouri’s new law finally allowing pregnant women to get divorced without delay and name the four remaining states (Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, and Mississippi) where that right still doesn’t exist. They also unpack a complicated Texas surrogacy custody case involving a fetal diagnosis of hypoplastic left heart syndrome, intended parents who considered termination, a surrogate who fled to Texas with help from an anti-abortion group, and how the case is being used to fuel calls to restrict or ban surrogacy and IVF. Kristin shares a personal story about pregnancy loss to underscore why these deeply individual medical decisions can’t be legislated in black and white.

Finally, the hosts discuss efforts by anti-abortion groups to challenge and potentially invalidate a Virginia constitutional amendment protecting reproductive freedom before voters even get the chance to weigh in this November.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Maternity Care Deserts, Missing Data, and a Dangerous FDA Nominee]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-maternity-carehttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-maternity-careMon, 24 Aug 2026 20:13:00 GMTEveryone’s asking whether Lindsay Clancy is a monster or a victim, but Drs. Kristin Lyerly, Erin Stevens, and Chris Ford argue that’s the wrong question entirely. This week, they dig into the real crisis behind the headlines: undertreated, over-medicated, and unsupported mothers navigating a broken system for peripartum mental health care.

From there,we tackles a packed week of reproductive health news: Trump’s pick to lead the FDA, Dr. Heidi Overton, and what her anti-abortion record means for patients nationwide. Can she be confirmed? Will outgoing Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) grow a spine and put a stop to the medical nonsense from Trump’s WH?

In a case of missing maternal data, Texas’s maternal mortality review board conveniently skipped the two years right after the state’s abortion ban was put into place. Given the obvious public interest in those numbers, we have to wonder why Texas is hiding behind incomplete data.

New Jersey’s bold new law shielding abortion and trans care providers from out-of-state prosecution. Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed the law that clarifies both abortion and gender-affirming care for transgender people are "legally protected" reproductive care.

Plus, we have sobering new data from The March of Dimes showing that over a third of U.S. counties are now maternity care deserts. This means there are no birthing facilities and no obstetric clinicians for those counties. That is a population of more than 2.4 million women of reproductive age, who gave birth to nearly 149,000 infants in those counties. And those numbers will only get worse.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Trust Your Doctor, Not Your Senator]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-trust-your-doctorhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-trust-your-doctorMon, 17 Aug 2026 21:37:52 GMTThis week, we break down the biggest stories at the intersection of reproductive healthcare and politics. We start with some good news! Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed a bill lifting restrictions on abortion at or after 24 weeks, making it one of the broadest laws in the country. The hosts explain why late abortion care, often misunderstood by the public, is really about trusting physicians to handle the countless “shades of gray” that arbitrary gestational limits can’t account for and why putting that decision back in doctors’ hands will save lives.

We then turn to Idaho, where a federal judge ruled the state can’t enforce its near-total abortion ban against physicians acting to protect a patient’s health, not just their life. Dr Chris Ford explains that legal distinction matters clinically, drawing on his experience in emergency medicine to explain how pregnancy complications can turn deadly within minutes.

From there, it’s a tour of wins and losses across the map: Colorado becomes the fifth state requiring abortion medication access on college campuses, a move the hosts say normalizes reproductive healthcare as part of everyday student life. In Michigan, Oakland County votes to keep a Planned Parenthood clinic open with $1.5 million in local funding, a reminder that Planned Parenthood provides far more than abortion care. But Oklahoma delivers a gut punch, criminalizing possession of abortion-inducing drugs with penalties of up to ten years in prison.

The conversation widens to a global scale as the hosts examine the fallout from the dissolution of USAID, which has cut off maternal health resources, contraception, and postpartum care to countries around the world. They discuss rising maternal deaths in places like Nigeria and Myanmar, and soaring rates of unsafe abortion in countries like Liberia, where access to contraception has collapsed alongside U.S. funding.

Finally, Chris and Kristin take aim at Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul for resurfacing old, since-debunked texts from Dr. Fauci to falsely suggest a link between COVID vaccines and miscarriage. The hosts unpack the difference between a theoretical risk raised in real time during a global pandemic and the years of evidence that followed and why weaponizing outdated science to scare pregnant patients does lasting damage to public trust in medicine. As always, the doctors close with a reminder: trust your providers, not your politicians.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: When Medication Abortion Becomes A Deadly Weapon]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-when-medicationhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-when-medicationMon, 10 Aug 2026 20:14:24 GMTThis week on Situation Womb, the full crew is back together to unpack a packed news cycle at the intersection of reproductive health and politics.

They start with AOC’s public egg-freezing journey and why normalizing that conversation matters. Naturally, her detractors made her announcement VERY weird.

We also discuss the confirmation of Todd Blanche as Attorney General and what his ties to anti-abortion advocacy groups could mean for a backdoor national abortion ban.

The conversation turns heavier with a devastating case out of Durham County, North Carolina, where an 18-year-old and her partner face criminal charges including “assault with a deadly weapon” after she took abortion medication in her third trimester. The hosts unpack what happens when restrictive laws corner vulnerable patients instead of protecting them.

They close on some rare good news: abortion pill access via telehealth has quadrupled in Missouri since 2023, and new polling shows most Americans, including a surprising share of Republicans, oppose criminalizing medication abortion.

Plus, an update on Elon Musk potentially facing bribery charges in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a sneaky ballot measure in Kansas aimed at reshaping the state Supreme Court, a California lawsuit targeting crisis pregnancy centers for peddling fake “abortion pill reversal” claims, and a Wyoming physician taking on her own state government in court to keep providing care

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Battleground Districts Draw Lines on Abortion Bans]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-battleground-districtshttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-battleground-districtsMon, 03 Aug 2026 19:55:20 GMTWith midterms approaching, new polling shows a national abortion ban is a top deal-breaker for nearly half of likely voters in key battleground House districts. We dig into how this is already reshaping races, from Tom Tiffany scrubbing his no-exceptions ban stance from his campaign website in Wisconsin, to the closely watched Georgia Senate race between John Ossoff (whose wife is an OBGYN) and his opponent.

We also unpack a new study linking state-level abortion restrictions to rising rates of suicidal ideation among teen girls. It’s a trend not mirrored in teen boys, and one that appears independent of whether the girls themselves are pregnant. States with greater reproductive freedom saw declines in these rates over the same period.

There is a disturbing story out of North Dakota, where a longtime OBGYN has been accused of secretly using his own sperm to inseminate fertility patients for years without their knowledge or consent, reportedly defending the practice as standard for the era. We discuss the scope of his influence in the state's maternal health system, questions about who else may have known, and what a formal investigation could uncover.

Finally, we dismantle a bogus "study" claiming mifepristone is contaminating wastewater (spoiler: it's propaganda dressed up as science) and debunk the resurfaced myth that COVID vaccines contain fetal body parts.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Attacks on Plan C and Abortion's New Landscape]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-attacks-on-planhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-attacks-on-planMon, 27 Jul 2026 19:46:25 GMTDr. Kristin Lyerly and Dr. Erin Stevens break down Sen. Josh Hawley’s push to get the DOJ to investigate Plan C, the abortion-information nonprofit he’s calling a “left-wing dark money” operation, and why an attack on it should worry anyone who uses the internet for health information.

We also dig into a Texas appeals court’s reversal of charges against midwife Maria Rojas, whose case (built largely on hearsay) upended abortion access for an already underserved community, and a Virginia federal court ruling that found the FDA’s restrictions on mifepristone “arbitrary and capricious.”

Then, Kimya Forouzan, principal state policy advisor at the Guttmacher Institute, joins to unpack new data on how post-Dobbs abortion bans are reshaping care. From the surge in telehealth medication abortion, to the ripple effects of state bans on neighboring states, to the confusion and fear that keep people from even searching for information online, the landscape around abortion care is changing rapidly.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Todd Blanche, Mifepristone and The Midterms]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-todd-blanche-mifepristonehttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-todd-blanche-mifepristoneMon, 20 Jul 2026 19:20:01 GMTTodd Blanche, the nominee for Attorney General has signaled plans to revive the 1873 Comstock Act to restrict mailed abortion medication. It’s a move that could gut telehealth access to mifepristone, even as fearmongering about the drug’s safety continues to spread despite 25 years of evidence proving it’s safe and effective.

From there, we turn to some genuinely good news: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), along with the Society for Women’s Health Research and other partners, just announced a “women’s health moonshot.” It’s a push for Congress to invest $20 billion over the next decade to close the massive research gap in women’s and obstetric health. The doctors explain all the different ways this could be a HUGE development.

The conversation takes a harder turn when they discuss anti-abortion groups manipulating real patients’ stories for propaganda. They dig into the case of a Wisconsin woman whose fatal fetal diagnosis was twisted into an anti-abortion narrative online, and the legal effort now underway to hold groups accountable for it.

And will abortion drive voters again in the 2026 midterms? Or will it be absorbed into a broader affordability conversation that’s defining this year’s midterms?

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]]><![CDATA[83,000 Cameras and No Accountability]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/83000-cameras-and-no-accountabilityhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/83000-cameras-and-no-accountabilityMon, 13 Jul 2026 19:54:39 GMTThis week, the hosts unpack a chilling case out of Texas, where law enforcement used 83,000 automated license plate readers to track down a woman suspected of self-managing her abortion. It’s a stark look at how surveillance infrastructure built for “public safety” is being weaponized against patients.

The panel also reflects on the deaths of Senator Lindsey Graham and the hospitalization of Mitch McConnell, weighing legacy, accountability, and the discomfort of not speaking ill of the dead when that legacy includes real harm.

From there, the conversation turns to Graham Platner’s collapsed Senate campaign in Maine, the accountability movement that brought his history of alleged assault to light, and hard questions about why gender violence so often gets a pass across party lines. There’s genuinely good news too: wins for reproductive rights advocates in Minnesota (a new bill to fund OB/GYN abortion training across state lines), Nebraska (a failed anti-abortion ballot push), and Idaho (a successful signature drive to roll back a strict abortion ban). We have all of the details in today’s show.

The episode closes with an interview with Marina Jenkins, Executive Director of the National Redistricting Foundation, on a topic most people never connect to their healthcare: gerrymandering. Jenkins breaks down how manipulated legislative maps in states like North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina allowed lawmakers to pass abortion restrictions that don’t reflect majority public opinion and what ordinary citizens can do to fight back.

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]]><![CDATA[They Came for Abortion, But They Took Away Your Insulin]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/they-came-for-abortion-but-they-tookhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/they-came-for-abortion-but-they-tookMon, 06 Jul 2026 20:33:58 GMTThe team is back at full strength! This week, Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Dr. Erin Stevens, Dr. Chris Ford, and Dr. Chelsea Daniels break down the whirlwind of reproductive health news.

We begin by tackling the recent expiration of the federal defunding of Planned Parenthood. Dr. Daniels shares her firsthand experience and exposes the reality of these cuts: they didn’t stop abortions; instead, they stripped away essential primary care, leaving thousands of patients without access to life-saving insulin, inhalers, and cancer screenings.

Then, we head to Iowa, where Governor Kim Reynolds’ newly enacted laws are targeting both telehealth abortion access and minors’ ability to consent to the cancer-preventing HPV vaccine. The hosts look at a striking new study from the UK showing zero cervical cancer deaths in vaccinated young women, contrasting true evidence-based science with the dangerous rhetoric of “parental rights” and “terminal mansplaining.”

Finally, Dr. Ford leads a powerful history lesson on the 14th Amendment following the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold birthright citizenship, exposing the escalating, authoritarian anti-immigrant rhetoric coming from the far right.

From HHS slashing teen pregnancy prevention grants to the critical need for young poll workers this November, the team covers why your vote is the ultimate prescription for protecting our democracy.

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]]><![CDATA[Joy as Resistance: Fighting for Reproductive Rights on America's 250th]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/joy-as-resistance-fighting-for-reproductivehttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/joy-as-resistance-fighting-for-reproductiveMon, 29 Jun 2026 20:41:12 GMTFour years after Dobbs, the attacks on reproductive healthcare aren’t slowing down, they’re just getting sneakier. Dr. Kristin Lyerly and Dr. Erin Stevens are back to break down everything the Trump administration’s efforts to send vulnerable pregnant people straight to unregulated crisis pregnancy centers.

They also dig into why abortion numbers have actually gone up since Dobbs, what the push to criminalize patients really means, and why the courts may be our most important battleground right now.

Plus, a Texas senator just compared a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy to a hangnail, and they absolutely have thoughts.

Oh, and Olivia Rodrigo is hosting a very special concert later this year and we have all of the details.

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]]><![CDATA[Four Years Post-Dobbs: The Frontline Reality]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/four-years-post-dobbs-the-frontlinehttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/four-years-post-dobbs-the-frontlineMon, 22 Jun 2026 20:31:43 GMTWelcome to the very first episode of The Situation Womb, your weekly briefing on the medical realities politicians love to legislate but rarely understand.

Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Dr. Erin Stevens, Dr. Chelsea Daniels, and Dr. Chris Ford mark the four-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, which effectively killed Roe vs Wade. The crew breaks down where they were when the world shifted, the chilling reality of navigating "bananas medicine" from Florida to California, and the FDA’s highly politicized "safety review" of Mifepristone. They look at the heartbreaking reality of post-Roe confusion creeping into blue states, highlighted by the case of an Illinois woman denied life-saving ectopic pregnancy care, and a South Carolina woman forced to carry a nonviable pregnancy.

Plus, they dive into the horrifying human rights violations unfolding at ICE detention centers and celebrate a rare, hard-fought legal victory for reproductive freedom in Missouri.

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