Largest national organization of OB-GYNs cuts financial ties with Trump Administration
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the largest US organization of OB-GYN providers, announced it will no longer accept US federal government funds due to “recent changes in federal funding laws and regulations”.
The ACOG has more than 60,000 members nationwide. They said they will reject federal funding for all programs and contracts in response to the Trump administration’s policies, Axios reported on 1st August 2025.
ACOG appears to be the first nationwide physician organization to cut ties with the Trump administration since the President enacted his large-scale campaign to slash all federal initiatives for diversity, equity and inclusion. ACOG states on its website that diversity, equity and inclusion are part of the group’s core values, which are integral to combating racism and oppression in medical care.
The organization said it will continue to work with the Trump administration on policymaking decisions and advocating for OB-GYNs. “We will evaluate opportunities to partner with the government in the future where our program goals align,” the statement reads.
ACOG has been at odds with Trump since his conservative Supreme Court repealed federal abortion protections. The fall of Roe v. Wade created a domino effect of state abortion bans that put pregnant people’s lives in danger and threatened to criminalize reproductive health providers.
SOURCE: Huffington Post, by Alanna Vagianos, 1 August 2025. PHOTO: ACOG on Facebook
[Note how many women ob-gyns there are in the photo!! Editor]
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Infant deaths rise in states that banned abortion, study reveals
In states that have implemented stringent abortion bans, infant mortality rates are on the rise. This trend is raising concerns among healthcare professionals and policymakers alike. A review of recent data reveals that these states are seeing notable increases in infant deaths, contrasting with states where abortion access remains protected.
The correlation between restrictive abortion laws and infant mortality is becoming evident. Multiple studies indicate a link between decreased access to reproductive healthcare and increased risks to infant health. These findings bring attention to the broader implications of reproductive legislation on public health outcomes.
SOURCE: Newsbreak, by Mathew Abraham, 3 August 2025
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Meta, parent company of Facebook, found liable for abusing consumer reproductive health data to run targeted ads
A California federal court jury delivered a guilty verdict Friday that found Meta Inc., the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, liable for exploiting consumers’ sensitive reproductive health information for targeted advertising.
Eight women who used the popular period-tracking app Flo Health brought the case against Flo Health, Meta, Google and others, alleging that Flo Health shared their data through the tech companies’ software development kits, then used their health data for advertising.
Meta was the only defendant to not settle with the litigants before the jury reached a verdict. According to court documents, Meta was found liable for violating the California Invasion of Privacy Act and the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, in a jury trial in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
Meta could face up to $190 billion in damages, according to reporting by FemTech Insider. Thirty-eight million women were included in the class action, and each violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act can result in a penalty of $5,000.
“This verdict sends a clear message about the protection of digital health data and the responsibilities of Big Tech,” Michael P. Canty and Carol C. Villegas, lead trial attorneys in the case, said in a statement. “Companies like Meta that covertly profit from users’ most intimate information must be held accountable. Today’s outcome reinforces the fundamental right to privacy—especially when it comes to sensitive health data.”
The Flo Health app is a freely downloadable consumer health app that was said to be the “‘first mobile application to make use of artificial intelligence to accurately predict reproductive cycles,’” a court document says. The app prompted women to enter information about sexual activity, pregnancy goals and birth control methods. Users of Flo Health that entered menstrual cycle and pregnancy-related information into the app between November 2016 and February 2019 may be entitled to compensation resulting from the class action.
The article goes on to talk about efforts by attorneys general in 16 Republican states who sent a letter to Congress last week asking leadership to pre-empt state telehealth shield laws for abortion. The attorneys general decried Democratic states’ use of shield laws to protect telemedicine providers that prescribe abortion medications across state lines. The shield laws in New York, Massachusetts and California prevent providers in their states from being criminally pursued, or extradited, by anti-abortion states for providing services. Anti-abortion states want to prosecute them.
According to the latest data from #WeCount, approximately a quarter of all abortions in the U.S. are facilitated through telehealth visits and virtual prescribing of abortion-inducing medications.
“These Republican attorneys general are calling on Congress to criminalize modern medical care, rip apart state protections, and reach across borders to impose abortion bans on people living in states where abortion is legal,” Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju, said in a statement. “These attacks are another step toward a national backdoor abortion ban. Shield laws are one of the strongest tools we have to protect access in a post-Roe reality—and they’re working. These laws protect providers, helpers, and patients from extremists who want to weaponize the legal system to ban abortion everywhere.”
SOURCE: Fierce Health Care, by Emma Beavins, 4 August 2025.
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‘Unconscionable’: Trump Admin blasted for plan to ban abortions at Veterans’ hospitals
“Those who fight for all our freedom must have the most basic freedom to control their own bodies and futures—and this rule robs them of it,” said the head of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Advocates for veterans, reproductive rights campaigners, and Democrats in Congress on Monday continued to lambaste the Trump administration’s move to end abortion care for former U.S. military service members and their relatives. “Since taking office, the Trump administration has repeatedly attacked service members, veterans, and their families’ access to basic reproductive care, including gender-affirming care,” said Planned Parenthood Federation of America president and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson in a Monday statement.
Planned Parenthood and its leader have frequently criticized actions by President Donald Trump, including his signature on Republicans’ recently passed budget reconciliation package that targets the group’s clinics—which provide a range of healthcare services—by cutting them off from Medicaid funds if they continue to offer abortions….
…Blasting the proposed rule as “disgusting and dangerous,” Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said on social media Friday that the government “should not be able to impose a pregnancy on anyone—least of all survivors of rape, abuse, or those whose health is at risk.”….
As the 30-day public comment period for the proposed rule began Monday, U.S. House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano (D-Calif.) warned that “stripping away access to essential reproductive healthcare at VA, the largest integrated healthcare network in the United States, puts veterans’ lives at risk and violates the promise we made to them. Veterans have earned the right to healthcare. Full stop.”….
“Veterans already face unique challenges to their health and well-being, including experiencing PTSD, recovering from military sexual trauma, and facing an increased risk of suicide,” she noted, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder. “Banning access to the full range of reproductive services, including abortion, further jeopardizes their health and safety. No one should have to travel hundreds of miles, endure financial hardship, or risk their health just to get the medical care they need. Our veterans deserve better….”
SOURCE: Common Dreams, by Jessica Corbett, 4 August 2025.
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Fetal autopsies could help prevent stillbirths, but too often they are used to blame women for pregnancy loss
About 60 pregnancies per day in the U.S. end in stillbirth. The best way to find out why a stillbirth occurred is a fetal autopsy – yet these procedures are performed in only 1 in 5 of the over 20,000 stillbirths that occur each year. As Jill Lens explains in her recent book, “Stillbirth and the Law,” the fact that so few fetal autopsies are performed after stillbirths is actually a driver of the disproproportionately high number of stillbirths in the U.S.
One major exception to the rarity of fetal autopsies is when pregnancy loss ends with criminal arrest. Arrests after pregnancy loss are not new, but according to data compiled by the non-profit group Pregnancy Justice, they have increased since the Supreme Court overturned the federal constitutional right to abortion in 2022.
SOURCE: The Conversation, by Jill Lens, Professor of Law, University of Iowa, 4 August 2025.