Insights & Updates

The United Nations recognizes sexual and reproductive health (SRH) as a keystone on which sustainable development is based— and these goals were first outlined at the1994 International Conference on Population and Development. In mid-November, the 2019 High-Level Commission on the Nairobi Summit, or ICPD+25, released a groundbreaking new report that builds on this framework. The report examines global progress and setbacks regarding sexual health and rights that occurred since 2019. It recommends that countries take steps to “unwind” the various social, political, and economic barriers that hinder the advancement of SRH.   Positively, the report sheds light on how roughly 77 percent of low- and middle- income countries have created plans to develop or execute national commitments to sexual and reproductive health or have developed monitoring and evaluation systems. The recent progress in Latin America and Africa- notably the legalization of abortion in Mexico, Argentina, and Columbia that resulted from women’s movements- sharply contrasts events transpiring in Eastern Europe and the United...

On December 8th, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.8404, also known as the Respect for Marriage Act, by a vote of 258-169. This legislation cements the federal rights of marriages of same-sex couples and ensures that the same legal obligation to protect same-sex marriages exists as it does for marriages between a man and a woman. Same-sex marriage was legalized on June 26th, 2015, in the Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644. However, Supreme Court decisions are not law, which was emphasized by the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade. In the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe, the concurring opinion stated that Obergefell should be overturned as well, which inspired action from Congress to protect same-sex marriage.   The law has two main components, both of which ensure that marriage equality is protected nationwide. The first component is the repeal of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. This law allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex...

Effective family planning is critical for women’s empowerment and improvement in child and maternal health, yet nearly half of the world’s pregnancies are unintended(1), representing a clear unmet need for contraception. Hormonal contraceptive regimens offer high efficacy but may induce a systemic side effect profile that reduces compliance. New research into contraceptive development has stagnated since the 1980s, due to the exit of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry from the arena. Consequently, existing pericoital non-hormonal contraceptives, such as spermicides and gels, are unsatisfactory, suffering from high failure rates in typical use as well as high discontinuation rates, which partially stem from vaginal irritation and discomfort. To solve these issues, Schimpf and colleagues, reporting in Science Translational Medicine(2), proposed a novel mechanism that could represent the next generation in contraceptive design. They developed a formulation of chitosan mucoadhesive polymers that can be topically applied to physically reinforce the cervical mucus barrier against sperm penetration. Their vaginal gel formulation decreased average uterine sperm...