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The US Food and Drug Administration is reviewing evidence about the safety and efficacy of one of the drugs used in medication abortion to investigate how it can be safely dispensed, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary wrote in a new letter to 22 Republican attorneys general. Kennedy and Makary said the FDA would conduct “its own review of the evidence, including real-world outcomes and evidence, relating to the safety and efficacy” of mifepristone. (Tirrell, McPhillips and Gumbrecht, 9/25)

The National Institutes of Health has launched a five-year, $37 million stillbirth consortium in a pivotal effort to reduce what it has called the country’s “unacceptably high” stillbirth rate. The announcement last week thrilled doctors, researchers and families and represented a commitment by the agency to prioritize stillbirth, the death of an expected child at 20 weeks or more. “What we’re really excited about is not only the investment in trying to prevent stillbirth, but also continuing that work with the community to guide the research,” Alison Cernich, acting director of the NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said in an interview. (Eldeib, 9/25)

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will stop scheduling patients for abortions starting next week as it works to find a way to provide the service in the face of Medicaid funding cuts in President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, the nonprofit said Thursday. Abortion funding across the U.S. has been under siege, particularly Planned Parenthood affiliates, which are the biggest provider. Wisconsin appears to be the first state where Planned Parenthood is pausing all abortions because of the new law. (Bauer and Mulvihill, 9/25)

Sexually transmitted disease rates for U.S. adults fell last year, but syphilis in newborns continued to rise, according to new government data posted Wednesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provisional data for 2024 showed a third consecutive year of fewer gonorrhea cases, and the second year in a row of fewer adult cases of chlamydia and the most infectious forms of syphilis. But congenital syphilis cases, in which infected moms pass the disease to their babies, aren’t seeing the same improvements. (Stobbe, 9/24)

Sexual health-related TikToks have been linked to misinformation and potentially dangerous advice—particularly when related to abortion. This is the finding of a cross-sectional study led by student Angeli Sirilan of the University of Arizona College of Medicine, which involved creating a TikTok account representing a 15-year-old girl. (Millington, 9/26)

The FDA approved the oral estrogen receptor antagonist imlunestrant (Inluriyo) for previously treated ESR1-mutated advanced/metastatic breast cancer, the agency announced Thursday. The approval stipulates use in adults with estrogen receptor-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer that has progressed on at least one line of endocrine therapy. (Bankhead, 9/25)

In other public health news —

Despite years of congressional hearings, lawsuits, academic research, whistleblowers and testimony from parents and teenagers about the dangers of Instagram, Meta’s wildly popular app has failed to protect children from harm, with “woefully ineffective” safety measures, according to a new report from former employee and whistleblower Arturo Bejar and four nonprofit groups. Meta’s efforts at addressing teen safety and mental health on its platforms have long been met with criticism that the changes don’t go far enough. (Ortutay, 9/26)

Sprout Organics is expanding a recall of its sweet potato, apple and spinach pouches, due to potentially elevated lead levels. In an alert posted Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration said the recall was first shared on Sept. 16, but the latest expansion includes additional lots of the 3.5-ounce pouches. (Moniuszko, 9/25)