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The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that abortion will not be on the ballot in November, upholding the state’s rejection of a petition to bring an abortion access measure before voters because organizers had failed to submit the required paperwork on time. In a narrow 4-3 ruling, the court’s majority sided with Secretary of State John Thurston (R), who in July rejected a petition submitted by Arkansans for Limited Government that carried over 100,000 signatures because the group had not submitted training certifications for paid canvassers it used. (Wu, 8/22)

A new study from Argentinian researchers has found that the strains of HPV considered high risk because of their links to cancer were not only more common than low-risk strains in a small study population of men, they also appeared to pose a greater threat to sperm quality. The study, published Friday in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, found that high-risk HPV appears to suppress key components of the immune system in the male genital tract. (Ryan, 8/23)

The percentage of teenagers who were up to date on their human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines has fallen dramatically since 2020, according to new federal data released Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends children from ages 11 to 12 receive two doses of the HPV vaccine, given six to 12 months apart, although children can get the vaccine starting at age 9. (Kekatos, 8/22)

Nowhere in the country are fertility treatments so successfully used as in Massachusetts, which almost four decades ago became the first state to require that insurers cover them. Indeed, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who has discussed her own use of assisted reproductive technology, told the Globe that she “felt lucky to live in Massachusetts.” (Nickerson, Bryars and Getahun-Hawkins, 8/22)