An unintended consequence of a state abortion ban

Plus: Meet the artist who took on the Sacklers – and won [View this email online]( [NPR Health]( December 11, 2022 by Andrea Muraskin This week: [Demand outstrips supply]( for children’s fever medicines. Plus, a Wisconsin woman [decides trying to get pregnant again]( isn’t worth the medical – and legal – risks. And, an artist touched by opioid addiction [demands accountability from a family of patrons]( with deep pockets, and a dark past. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Kids’ fever medicines can be hard to find right now. Here’s what to know]( [It can be hard to find children's fever-reducing medication in some areas. At a Bed Bath & Beyond in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, a few products were in stock while others were sold out.]( Laurel Wamsley/NPR We can’t blame the supply chain this time, say drug makers. Between COVID-19, RSV, and the flu, we’re a nation of runny noses and high temperatures. And that’s why some of the most common over-the-counter drugs for treating pain and fever – like Tylenol and Advil – are in short supply, especially when it comes to children's versions of those medicines. How to cope? Pediatrician Sean O'Leary says it’s important to remember that these medications simply treat symptoms; they have nothing to do with how quickly your kid recovers. And in many cases, he says, a sick child may be okay without medicine. (Like my nephew, who my sister captured on video bounding through a home-made obstacle course while COVID-positive, and feverish.) But if your kid is in pain or fussy, should you break her off a piece of grown-up Motrin? NPR spoke with O’Leary, as well as a pharmacist for advice on what to do when you’re short on kids’ fever meds: [what to watch for, when to call the doctor or pharmacist, and when to ride it out](. [Plus: For kids’ coughs, swap the over-the-counter syrups for honey]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- [Because of Wisconsin's abortion ban, this mother gave up trying for another child]( Paige Vickers for NPR On its surface, this story looks like a puzzle. Why would an abortion ban effect a woman who very much wants a baby? But pregnancy can be complicated. And the same procedure that is used to prevent infection after a miscarriage is commonly used in abortions. Wisconsin's abortion law, passed in 1849 "...was written solely by men, at a time when neither antibiotics nor ultrasound existed, basic infection control was not practiced, …surgeries were performed without anesthesia, and problems of pregnancy and labor were poorly understood," says University of Wisconsin professor and ObGyn Abigail Cutler. For Kristen Petranek, a mother of two with diabetes and a history of miscarriages, the Supreme Court’s striking down Roe v. Wade changed her risk-benefit calculation. [Here’s why she decided to stop trying for the third child she’d always wanted](. [More from Days & Weeks, NPR’s special series about reproductive health care after the overturn of Roe v. Wade]( [How one artist took on the Sacklers and shook their reputation in the art world]( Jacques Brinon/AP Nan Goldin, a former opioid addict and an advocate for those suffering from addiction, was disgusted when she found out the Sackler family --owners of Purdue Pharma--were released from liability in 2021. "I've never seen such an abuse of justice," she told NPR. But Goldin is also an important photographer. And the Sacklers – the family that ruthlessly pushed Oxycontin in the 1990s and 2000s – were some of the best connected and most respected art patrons in the world, with their name on galleries from New York to Berlin. Those galleries sat inside some of the same institutions that wanted to show Goldin’s photographs. A new documentary film, All The Beauty and The Bloodshed, tells the story of Goldin’s efforts to help scrub the art world of the Sacklers’ imprint. The film also covers the many twists and turns of Goldin’s life – including facing homelessness while growing up in New York City, and tackling the then-controversial subject of AIDS in her work in the late 1980s. NPR reviewer Brian Mann writes that the film illustrates the “[power, stubbornness and battle-hardened courage that helped [Goldin] take on the Sacklers]( [Also: The White House unveils a new system to track opioid overdoses]( Before you go: [Serena Ashun is a team member at Hugs Greenhouse in McKinney, Texas.]( Hunter Lacey - Picture Show: Employment helps adults with intellectual disabilities [see what they're capable of]( - A new drug has doctors [who treat Alzheimer’s feeling optimistic]( - Kids want to know: 'Will It Be Okay?' — [this book answers that question]( - Listen: What if you really could [never forget a face]( We hope you enjoyed these stories. Find more of [NPR's health journalism]( on Shots and follow us on Twitter at [@NPRHealth](. All our best, Andrea Muraskin and your Shots editors --------------------------------------------------------------- Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. 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