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The word “Black” has been almost completely removed from a package of bills that have long been viewed as Congress’ main legislative vehicle to address the Black maternal health crisis, frustrating some advocates who feel Black women are being erased from the policy. (Rodriguez, 5/18)

With the midterm elections less than six months away, Republicans are facing challenging political headwinds, including an unpopular war, escalating inflation and President Trump’s sinking approval ratings. Now another issue is putting the administration in a political bind. Abortion. Four years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which established a national right to abortion in 1973, it remains widely available, and the number of abortions per year has actually increased slightly. ... But a lawsuit against the F.D.A. now threatens that access, and the Trump administration has remained strikingly silent about it, even as the case reached the Supreme Court this month. (Belluck and Stolberg, 5/18)

The idea of drinking during pregnancy sounds like a generational punchline: Someone’s grandmother drank beer to fatten her fetus, another had a nightly martini to get a healthy amount of sleep — presumably unthinkable behavior in today’s America. Yet after precipitous declines in the last 50 years, rates of alcohol use in pregnancy in the U.S. started climbing upward a decade ago. (Cueto, 5/19)

Older men with erectile dysfunction (ED) have an increased risk of substance abuse, including sedatives, opioids, and cocaine, according to a large retrospective study. ED had the strongest association with sedative abuse, more than twice as likely as a matched cohort without ED. The risk was at least 50% greater for other psychoactive substances (such as ketamine), cocaine, and opioids. The risk of cannabis abuse was 45% greater in men with ED. An ED diagnosis was associated with a reduced risk of nicotine dependence in men of all ages. The analysis did not include alcohol abuse. (Bankhead, 5/18)

Asymptomatic mpox infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) may be far more common than previously recognized and could be playing a role in ongoing transmission, according to a study published last week in Nature Communications. Researchers estimate that actual infections may outnumber diagnosed cases by 33 to one. The findings challenge the assumption that most mpox cases are spread by people with symptoms. (Bergeson, 5/18)

Roughly half of new sexually transmitted infections (STIs) every year are among young adults and teens, and all states, to varying degrees, allow minors to independently access STI testing and treatment without a guardian's consent. But a new study published today by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) shows that most adolescents don't know they have the legal right to access this confidential treatment. (Boden, 5/18)

A San Francisco biotech start-up races sex cells on tiny tracks. Can an internet joke become a serious business? (Penny, 5/19)