I just finished reading It’s Not Hysteria by Dr. Karen Tang, a specialist in public health, gynecology and minimally invasive gynecological surgery located in Pennsylvania. It’s pretty great, and the following facts come from this very accessible, readable book on the subject of women, their health, and how our system needs to change. There’s so much more of value than what is below, so think about checking it out, or buying it. Knowledge is power, especially when it comes to women and girls and OUR BODIES.
Speaking of which, let’s start with the following fascinating fact: the NIH allocates more money ($37 million) toward smallpox research, a disease that has been eradicated from the U.S. since the late 1940s, than it sets aside for endometriosis research ($27 million); endometriosis affects at least 10% of women (N.B.: 10% of half the population, y’all), or that is sets aside for fibroid research ($15 million) which affects one in ten women in their lifetimes, including negative impacts on fertility.
I will link the funding info for the NIH at the end of this, and hope my blood pressure lowers, because looking at the numbers on funding for prostate cancer research ($278 million) – higher than ovarian, cervical, vaginal, and uterine cancers individually by a multiple of A LOT(almost more than all of those combined) – is absolutely maddening. Uterine cancer – $37 million – is the most common form of gynecologic cancer in the U.S. Ten percent of women who have post-menopausal bleeding will develop uterine cancer, with the other ninety percent experiencing p.m. bleeding due to benign causes (fibroids, polyps, or common menopausal changes). Breast cancer research is well-funded ($738 million), higher than prostate numbers, but again – the entire research funding for the cancers affecting women listed above combined, excluding breast cancer, is only $88 million higher than funding for prostate cancer. Deep breaths.
You know what does get well funded? Higher than even prostate cancer research? Perinatal and newborn health. Host body health? Not so much.
Fibroids, in case you don’t have ‘em or didn’t know, are benign tumors of the uterus that affect up to 80% of black women and 70% of white women. Hysterectomies guarantee that fibroids are gone but are not the only option for treatment. More than 400K hysterectomies occur every year in the U.S.; hysterectomies are the most common surgical procedure in the U.S., are also among the most expensive, and are harder on maternal bodies, taking longer to recover from – with more complications – than vaginal births, particularly in underserved or poor populations.
One average, it takes seven years to be diagnosed with endometriosis from onset of pain and related issues, which is simply a reflection of continued biases with regard to women’s reporting on systems, pain, and illness within our medical system.
One in four women in the U.S. will have an abortion in her lifetime. Most countries that ban abortion have a higher rate of abortion than those who do not criminalize it. Vasectomies are much less invasive and have fewer surgical risks than surgical sterilization procedures for women. Ninety percent of abortions are done within the first trimester, with only one percent occurring after twenty-one weeks. One in five pregnancies will end in a miscarriage, although that is an under-reporting, as many women don’t realize they’re pregnant, and have miscarried, and thus do not report. Up to seventy percent of fertilized eggs may result in a miscarriage. Up to eighty percent of first-trimester miscarriages pass naturally without treatment, but the process may take several weeks. The vast majority of people who experience miscarriage will go on to carry to term, and deliver normally.
Under 200 million people world-wide experience infertility. About a third of cases of infertility are due to a medical issue involving the male partner. IVF offers the highest pregnancy rates of any fertility treatment. More than eight million babies have been born through IVF worldwide.
How much money (all figures I use here are from NIH re: 2022) is invested in infertility research? $189 million. Teen pregnancy gets $17 million. Is that money, I wonder, asked to discourage it, recognizing it as the scourge it is? And how much of that funding is aimed at helping teenaged boys and older men who impregnate female children keep their dicks in their pants? Hmmm….