Biden administration may increase access to free birth control

BY CATELYN FITZGERALD ’23 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

On Jan. 30, the United States Department of Health and Human Services along with the Department of Labor and the Treasury proposed an adjustment to birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act. This adjustment would increase access for over 125,000 Americans, CNN reported. According to the CNN article, the new rule would alter existing exemptions which allow insurers to refuse to offer birth control for religious or moral reasons. The rule will be opened for public comment over the next few months before being finalized, the article said.

Currently, most Affordable Care Act plans are required to include no-cost birth control coverage, but a rule created in 2018 by the Trump Administration allows private healthcare insurers to cite “religious beliefs” or “moral convictions” to be exempted from providing contraceptives, a press release from the Cen- ters for Medicare and Medicaid said. According to the press release, individuals enrolled in a plan that uses the religious or moral exemption can only access contraceptives if their employer or insurer voluntarily grants them an accommodation. The new rule proposed by the Biden Administration would eliminate the moral exemption to con- traceptive coverage, and create a pathway for individuals to access birth control even if their insurer has a religious exemption, a Reuters article reported. The article explains that the new rule works by allowing any provider to offer free birth control and be reimbursed for the medication by an insurance company. The article went on to say that participating insurance companies receive credits from the government for sponsoring the purchase.

A senior Health and Human Services official told CNN that the new rule is intended to serve as a compromise between religiously affiliated employers and individuals seeking access to contraceptives. The CNN article highlighted the importance of the new rule in a post Roe v. Wade America, where states are able to limit access to abortions, and went on to emphasize that the extent to which individuals are aware of the new individual pathway will be a key determinant of its success in increasing birth control access.

World Wetlands Day 2023 calls attention to global wetland loss

BY YUYANG WANG ’24 STAFF WRITER

On Feb. 2, people from all around the world joined to celebrate the twenty-seventh World Wetlands Day. According to the official World Wetlands Day website, the theme of this year’s festival was “wetlands restoration.” This site contains statements from officials representing various institutions, such as the Convention on Wetlands, The International Union for Conservation of Nature and The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

World Wetlands Day was first celebrated in 1997, with the aim to increase people’s awareness of the importance of wetlands and encourage actions to protect them, notes the official website. Compared to other natural ecosystems such as forests and oceans, wetlands are often seen as less familiar and are unappreciated for their ecological value, an article from ClimateXChange said. As a result, World Wetlands Day plays an important role in making knowledge about wetlands more widespread as the ecosystems face extreme degradation, the official website said.

According to the EPA, wetlands can be categorized as either inland or coastal, as well as seasonal or permanent. Wetlands have many different forms including rivers, marshes, bogs, mangroves, mudflats, ponds, swamps, lagoons, lakes and floodplains. The Nature Conservancy explains that as an ecosystem, wetlands provide habitats for animals such as black-crowned night heron, Hine’s emerald dragonfly and American mink, as well as plants including purple pitcher plant and eastern skunk cabbage.

Species living in wetlands play key roles in the world’s water, nitrogen and sulfur cycles. Moreover, current scientific research shows that because of its carbon storage function, wetlands can help ameliorate climate change. Statistics from the World Wildlife Fund revealed that “[b]etween 300 million and 400 million people live close to and depend on wetlands.”

For humans, wetlands can improve water quality, offer protection from floods and shoreline erosion and offer opportunities for recreation and aesthetic appreciation. However, human effects on wetlands have historically been destructive, the WWF article said. According to National Geographic, overfishing has caused the biodiversity of wetlands to drop dramatically. Additionally, with industry development, factories built near wetlands cause pollution and harm plant and animal species by dumping toxic wastewater into the wetland.

Wetland conservation programs provide hope for restoring the health of wetlands around the world. For example, mangrove restoration programs have been created in seven biospheres of Latin America and the Caribbean led by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. These programs aim to recover mangrove forests by bringing together scientific experts with local communities while creating new economic and educational opportunities. This collaborative method is one of the most effective ways to restore mangrove forests, the UNESCO website reported.

In addition to direct conservation actions, scientific literature on wetlands also plays an important role in raising people’s awareness.

For instance, the book “Sippewissett, or, life on a salt marsh” by Tim Traver recalls the author’s personal experience at Sippewissett, a wet- could be perfectly safe.”

According to the New York Post, the responses to the proposal have been overwhelmingly positive, with many eagerly anticipating the fruition of FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf’s promise to “use the best science [to maintain] a safe and adequate supply of blood and blood products in the U.S.,” while preventing further discrimination against any “gender or sexual orientation.”

Reproduce this!

How abortion medication works and where to get it

BY SHIRA SADEH ’25 SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

On Jan. 3, the Food and Drug Administration announced a change in rules that will greatly increase the number of retail pharmacies that dispense abortion medication, AP News reported.

According to the AP article, this change is an effort to make abortion more accessible, allowing those seeking abortion medication to receive a consultation via telehealth before picking up the prescription at a local retail pharmacy, provided that the pharmacy undergoes a certification process.

According to Planned Parenthood, abortion medication consists of two pills: mifepristone and misoprostol. The first, mifepristone, prevents the pregnancy from developing further and may cause side effects of nausea or bleeding, although Planned Parenthood states that bleeding is uncommon at this stage of the abortion. The second pill, misoprostol, is taken either immediately after or up to 48 hours following the first pill. This pill empties the uterus and causes heavy bleeding and cramping. “It’s normal to see large blood clots (up to the size of a lemon) or clumps of tissue when this is happening. It’s kind of like having a really heavy, crampy period, and the process is very similar to an early miscarriage,” Planned Parenthood explained. The page went on to say that these side effects typically begin one to four hours after taking misoprostol. The bleeding typically lasts four to five hours, and cramping can continue for up to two days.

land located in the Northeast. In the book, Traver offers a detailed description of his connections with the wetlands, including his experience of witnessing their deterioration and recovery.

Although there has been an increase in action surrounding wetlands, people’s awareness and sense of urgency remain insufficient. According to Dr. Musonda Mumba, Secretary General of the Convention on Wetlands, “to date, nearly 90 percent of the world’s wetlands have been degraded or lost. We are losing wetlands three times faster than forests.” Therefore, World Wetlands Day is an opportunity to encourage all relevant players to participate in the wetlands restoration process. “We are mobilizing an entire generation for wetland restoration,” Mumba said.

According to an article from the Guttmacher Institute, the FDA approved the use of mifepristone for the purpose of non-surgical abortion in 2000. Although it is currently approved to be used up to ten weeks of gestation, it has been used safely to terminate later-stage pregnancies. The article went on to explain that while several states have restrictions on its usage, courts have ruled that banning abortion medication “outright” is unconstitutional. The closest Planned Parenthood center that offers abortion services is the Western Massachusetts Health Center in Springfield, MA. As of July 22, Mount Holyoke College Health Services stated that they offer counseling and referrals to students, but are unable to offer abortion medication themselves.