For the Week Ending February 10, 2019.
The nineteenth century was not the best time for informed consent; doctors often experimented on patients without their knowledge or agreement. J. Marion Sims, the “father of modern gynecology,” was no exception. Women still benefit from the insights he gleaned from patients – often enslaved patients. What those patients’ lives may have been like is imagined in this new play. Read more here.
This is important for you because we all benefit by standing on the shoulders of giants; we should at least acknowledge those giants.
Mitochondrial replacement therapy can be used to help women with mitochondrial disorders have healthy babies. It entails putting a nucleus from the mother – containing the mother’s DNA – into a denucleated egg with healthy mitochondria. Since mitochondria have their own DNA, the fetus that comes from this fertilized egg has DNA from three parents, instead of the standard two: the mother, the father, and the egg donor. The procedure is banned in the US, but a woman in Greece has just used it. It may help women who are infertile, and older, not just those with mitochondrial disease. Read more here.
This is important for you because although this procedure is illegal here, different regulations in different countries will allow us to see how it and other technologies can proceed.
If you get a job at the Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa, you can bring your baby to work for his first six months of life, or until he starts crawling – whichever comes first. Read more here.
This is important for you because while this is neither paid leave nor onsite daycare, it is an interesting back-to-work model.
Irth – like birth, but without the “b” for bias – is a social change app that collates and shares doctor and hospital reviews filtered by identity to help screen for bias. They collect accounts of instersectional instances in order to equalize the birthing experiences for all women in the US. Learn more and share your story here.
This is important for you because every mother should receive the same standard of care.
