5SR - November 17, 2023

Hitha on the looming threat of abortion access, policy glimmers, and the media-power exchange

Author

Hitha Palepu
November 17, 2023

Today’s curator is the founder of #5SmartReads, Hitha Palepu. She’s a consummate multihyphenate - CEO of Rhoshan Pharmaceuticals, author of WE’RE SPEAKING: The Life Lessons of Kamala Harris and How to Pack: Travel Smart for Any Trip, and professional speaker. Hitha is an unabashed fan of Taco Bell, Philadelphia sports teams & F1, romance novels, and is a mediocre crafter. She lives in NYC with her husband and two sons.

Despite a comforting streak of statewide wins affirming abortion access, the Comstock Act could still block access to medication abortion nationwide with a simple policy change at the Department of Justice.

And I fear that a Republican president would swiftly make this change.

The 1873 Comstock Act bans the mailing of “obscene” material, and what was deemed obscene certainly adheres to the 19th century standards (pornography, for example). The act has been steadily weakened over the years, but it’s existence and potential use has come up in recent years in regards to medication abortion.

With mifepristone access already at risk (which is likely to be argued at the Supreme Court and could open legal challenges to other FDA-approved drugs, a dangerous precedent on its own), this double blow would negatively impact abortion access and healthcare in the United States.

I know there’s widespread distaste for another Biden-Trump matchup in 2024, but this (and so much more) is on the line.

The British royal family has been on my mind a lot, having finished the audiobook Unroyal and with the final season of The Crown dropping this week.

I always look forward to Elizabeth Holmes’ commentary on all things royal and cultural commentary, and I found her interview with Elizabeth Angell (currently the EIC of Romper, and who was an intern at the Paris bureau of Time when that fateful crash happened) to be absolutely fascinating, both from her recollections of reporting on Diana and Dodi’s whirlwind relationship and the crash itself (and more importantly, how it’s been remembers and recounted in film adaptations).

“Diana may have been in love with Dodi, ready to leap confidently into a new life. Or she may have been indulging in a summer fling, a love affair that she could, as a divorced woman, conduct publicly for the first time. The question for me isn’t so much which scenario is true but whether Peter Morgan—deft, clever and insightful as he is—can bring something new to my sense of Diana’s wild beauty and her early, senseless death. The truth of those things is already immortal.”

I love how states are launching public health pilots under Medicaid, and this housing access one in California is such an important one.

Though it certainly comes with its fair share of complications, especially if you run a nonprofit doing this work and are now able to bill CalAIM (an overhaul of the state’s Medicaid program) if they’re a provider of one of 14 social services that the agency is now covering.

“CalAIM pays for someone's security deposit, medically-tailored meals and safe places to sober up. In total, California's Medicaid program now covers 14 social services all backed by evidence that they strengthen people's health. State officials also created a new benefit, known as enhanced care management, to help people navigate all of the complex medical and social service bureaucracies.

CalAIM's new service offerings primarily target the 5% of people on Medicaid in California who account for half of the program's spending. Those individuals often have multiple chronic conditions — like diabetes, heart disease or kidney failure — as well as significant social needs.”

You can skip Vogue’s interview with Lauren Sánchez and go straight to Amy’s smart, sharp analysis of the article and the business of media and its impact on editorial decisions, especially at Vogue.

If there’s one thing you read today, make it this.

I have my own thoughts about this article, which felt like the most obvious sponsored content I’d ever read. But after reading Amy’s piece, I’ve been thinking about our own behavior as readers.

Vogue earns its money with clicks and time spent reading the article online, and counts comments, views, and shares on its social content as a driver of said engagement, whether it’s positive or negative.

Even when people linked the piece or post to encourage subscription cancellations or their negative review of the piece, it gives Vogue exactly what it needs - engagement, which drives revenue and cultural relevancy.

It falls squarely in line with Anna Wintour’s longtime successful strategy to “follow the money”, as she was encouraged to do by her boss in the 90’s. And while it feels distasteful, revenue is still the make-or-break metric for media properties.

As long as you’re clicking, reading, and sharing the pieces you loathe of find distasteful, you’re still contributing to that publication’s bottom line. And if that’s not in line with your values, it’s important to exercise caution on what you click on, read, and share.

I’m extremely bullish on reskilling the workforce (proud investor in Transfr VR), and it’s incredibly hopeful to see these programs making an immediate and positive impact in states like West Virginia.

Apprenticeships and reskilling programs are also one of the rare programs that garners wide bipartisan support, so I’m hopeful we can continue to invest in expanding these programs.

“The program [delivered by Coalfiend Development] is delivering with the help of roughly $20 million in federal grants. Since being founded in 2010, it has trained more than 2,500 people, and created 800 new jobs and 72 new businesses.

"Instead of waiting around for something to happen, we're trying to generate our own hope," Hannah said. "…Meeting real needs where they're at."

Steven Spry, a recent graduate of the program, is helping reclaim an abandoned strip mine, turning throwaway land into lush land.

"Now I've kind of got a career out of this," Spry said. "I can weld. I can farm. I can run excavators."

And with the program, Damron now works only above ground.“

It’s hard to find things to stay hopeful about these days. This gives me a lot of hope.

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