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As policymakers around the world debate whether minors should have access to transition-related medications, a study published Monday in the nation’s premier pediatric medical journal found that the drugs are rarely prescribed to youths. Less than 0.1% of adolescents with private insurance in the United States are transgender or gender-diverse and are prescribed puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones, according to the findings published in JAMA Pediatrics.  (Lavietes, 1/6)

The Defense Department has reached a sweeping settlement with tens of thousands of people who were dismissed from military service because of their sexual identity, potentially paving the way for veterans to upgrade their discharge status and receive a range of benefits they had been denied. The settlement, which the Pentagon agreed to late last week and was filed on Monday in Federal District Court in Northern California, must still be approved by a judge. It applies to a group of more than 30,000 veterans who received less-than-honorable discharges or whose discharge status lists their sexuality. Advocacy groups had filed a class-action civil rights lawsuit in 2023 alleging that the Pentagon had failed to remedy “ongoing discrimination” after the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy more than a decade earlier. (Kavi, 1/6)

In the months after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, permanent contraception in the form of tubal sterilizations and vasectomies surged among young adults living in states likely to ban abortion, new research released on Monday found. Compared to May 2022, when the opinion overturning Roe leaked, August 2022 saw 95% more vasectomies and 70% more tubal sterilizations performed on people between the ages of 19 and 26, according to the study, which was conducted by researchers at the George Washington University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan. (Sherman, 1/6)

A decrease in California's sexually transmitted infections (STIs) followed early real-world adoption of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP), suggesting real population-level benefits to this public health strategy. (Lou, 1/6)

Since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states like Texas to ban nearly all abortions, the number of pregnancy terminations in the United States actually increased. This paradox, which pleases abortion advocates as much as it frustrates their conservative counterparts, hinges mostly on pills. (Klibanoff, 1/7)

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has named 14 states plus the District of Columbia to participate in the Transforming Maternal Health Model. First announced in December 2023, the 10-year model aims to help mothers and children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through physical, mental and social guidance during and after pregnancy. (Tong, 1/7)