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For now, abortion remains accessible even in states where it’s banned — at least for those who know where to look. It’s still legal in two-thirds of the country, and numerous websites explain how to order medications from international pharmacies to end early pregnancies at home. But not all patients have equal access to reliable information. (Michelle Oberman, Katie Watson and Lisa Lehmann, 7/28)

In the U.S., about 16% of Black birthing people are immigrants. But even as the federal government and states take steps to improve national maternal health, particularly among Black birthing parents, many immigrant parents are left out of new policy initiatives to provide access to postpartum care. (Maria W. Steenland, Rachel E. Fabi and Laura R. Wherry, 7/28)

Despite the United Nations' recent proclamation that AIDS could end by 2030, the constant urge to put a happy face on a deadly pandemic is a grave disservice to the 1.5 million people who will become infected with HIV this year and the one person who dies from AIDS each minute. (Michael Weinstein, 7/27)

Every few years since the start of the current millennium, another study appears to alarm women and physicians about the alleged risks of hormone therapy during menopause. The latest is a Danish report, recently published in the British Medical Journal, which immediately generated unnecessary anxiety about a possible connection between menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) and cognitive decline. (Avrum Z. Bluming and Carol Tarvis, 7/27)

When President James Garfield was shot in 1881, his doctors probed the wounds with unsterilized fingers and instruments. Most U.S. medical professionals had not yet adopted antiseptic procedures. Historians suspect that the lack of antiseptic procedure caused Garfield’s death, and that belief is supported by the massive internal infections found after he died 79 days later. (Ken Blaker, 7/28)

As researchers who study older adults’ health and climate change, we have found that two societal trends point to a potentially dire future: The population is getting older, and temperatures are rising. (Deborah Carr, Giacomo Falchetta and Ian Sue Wing, 7/25)

With the horror of some 100,000 annual overdose deaths in the 2020s, and the deadly nature of illegal synthetic drugs, it’s easy to think that imposing longer, tougher sentences might save lives by deterring sales. Some bereaved parents describe their children’s deaths as “poisonings” and want the government to treat fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction.” (Maia Szalavitz, 7/28)