Chelsea Polis

With so much uncertainty and fear in the air, one thing is certain - we are ALWAYS here to protect & defend researchers against abuse, harassment, unlawful firings, & other attempts to silence their critical work. Help us help them: www.csldf.org/donate

‘No one quite like her’: meet the female colleagues who inspire these award-winning women in science To mark International Women’s Day, Nature asked winners of its awards programmes to nominate a colleague who brings out the best in them.

For International Women's Day on 8 March this weekend, @nature.com's Careers team presents award-winning women scientists and the women who inspired them. If you need some feel-good news these days or pro tips for mentoring in your own science career, dive in!

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I loved chatting with you @jennieindc.bsky.social - thank you for having me! Hope the cupcakes were amazing. 🧁

Happy birthday!

🚨 New Episode 🚨

This week on @reprosfightback.bsky.social I talk to the amazing @cbpolis.bsky.social at @guttmacher.org on why fertility awareness-based methods of family planning must be grounded in evidence and reproductive justice. It was a great conversation and I learned a lot. #podcast

Fertility Tracking Must Be Grounded in Evidence and Reproductive Justice — rePROs Fight Back Fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) are different approaches to tracking fertility and identifying which days someone is most likely to conceive if they are having sex without contraception. The...

This week, Chelsea Polis, Principal Research Scientist @guttmacher.org, talks with us about different fertility awareness-based methods, their effectiveness, advantages and disadvantages, & why each method must be grounded in scientific evidence and oriented within a reproductive justice framework:

Dr Chelsea Polis: ‘The scientific world recognises when you stick your neck out and do the right thing’ The US reproductive health expert on being sued for $1m, and winning a top prize for her fight for free speech in the public interest

Yeah.

But once it's in a journal, stopping it from "starting" to catch on is pretty hard, too. Ask me how I know 🫠

www.theguardian.com/science/2023...

Thank you!!

Whew.

Apropos of absolutely nothing, here is a slide from a talk I delivered yesterday on addressing mis- and disinformation in the published scientific literature.

Wakefield's paper, of course, had been published in the Lancet, where Richard Horton was, and remains, Editor in Chief.

Thank you so much! And thank you also for helping spread the word - much appreciated! 🤗

Guttmacher Principal Research Scientist Chelsea Polis co-edited a special issue of Contraception and co-authored the accompanying editorial examining the rapid rise of FemTech in sexual and reproductive health, including its promise and risks.

Find the editorial on our website: gu.tt/3MQIorK

Blind refugee abandoned by Border Patrol dies in Buffalo. A nearly blind refugee abandoned by Border Patrol miles from his home dies in Buffalo after having been missing for nearly a week.

US immigration officials picked up a blind Rohingya refugee last week in Buffalo, NY. Then, realizing they had no basis to deport him, they released him five miles from his home. He needed a walking stick and died trying to make his way back to his house: www.investigativepost.org/2026/02/25/b...

Thank you for helping us get the word out about the Special Issue! Appreciate it :)

So very grateful to you for helping us get the word out - thank you!

HUGE thanks to my fellow guest editors Rebecca Simmons, Patty Cason, & Angel Foster, to Carolyn Westhoff (Contraception’s Editor Emerita) & Blair Darney (current EIC) for support, every researcher who submitted work, and every peer reviewer who willingly donated their time and expertise!

8/8

This special issue isn’t anti-tech. It’s about ensuring that innovation serves people’s needs, not just market incentives.

The path forward requires collaboration across technology and health, rigorous evaluation, and an unwavering focus on reproductive health, rights, & justice.

7/8

Vast majority of special issue submissions came from high-income contexts.

Despite FemTech collecting data from millions daily, only ~50% of submissions included empirical data.

FDA recently signaled it may relax regulation of health tech, but we need stronger (not weaker!) safeguards.

6/8

A small taste of some findings:
- In the US, period tracker use increased post-Dobbs, despite privacy warnings.
- Technologies designed to empower users can also create risks for fairness, autonomy, and accountability.
- Equity-centered research agendas are essential.

5/8

In brief, FemTech in SRH offers promise & excitement, but also seems like a high-stakes experiment unfolding in real time, without adequate safeguards. Privacy protections (even GDPR) fall short for sensitive reproductive data, and regulatory frameworks are fragmented across jurisdictions.

4/8

FemTech emerged in a space where women’s health has been underfunded and under-researched. These technologies hold real potential, but many also present serious concerns around evidence, regulation, privacy, and equity.

3/8

The full special issue is at this link: www.contraceptionjournal.org/content/femt....

Our summary editorial tying the issue together is free to read at this link until April 5: authors.elsevier.com/a/1mcPB2Svwg....

Please help share!

2/8

After 2 years of work, our special issue in @contraceptionjl.bsky.social on "Emergency of FemTech in the SRH Landscape" is out!

It includes 14 papers on fertility tracking, contraception, and abortion in the digital age, plus our summary Editorial.

A 🧵on what we found; please help us share!

1/8

This is the US exerting control over what the rest of the world can do.

On the SRHM Podcast, Elizabeth Sully & Amy Friedrich-Karnik unpack what the expanded #GlobalGagRule means for UN agencies and global organizations.

Listen here: https://gu.tt/4quN7gE

On Nov. 16, a mental health counselor recorded in Kamilla’s medical records that her mother reported the girl had lost her appetite after being “served food that contained worms.” A week later, the couple said, children were told to gather in the gym for what they believed would be a Thanksgiving celebration. Excitement spread as families saw tables set with turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, they said. The children waited expectantly. But when a parent asked when the celebration would begin, Oksana said, staff told them the holiday meal was for employees, not detainees. The children, she said, watched despondently as the feast was packed away.

On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast.

The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.

But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.

Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.

Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I'm grateful for your existence, energy, and work, Miranda. I cannot wait to learn from your book!

I'm in awe of @mirandayaver.bsky.social and can't wait to read her new book.

The link in the post below didn't work for me - but this one should: www.cambridge.org/us/universit...

I just submitted my pre-order (and encourage others to, as well)!

I was just denied entry to the Dilley detention facility while my constituent, seven-year-old Diana, remains inside.

What kind of sick, horrific conditions are children being forced to endure in there?

I will be back tomorrow. Accountability can’t wait.

Thanks to @scholars.org for helping scholars get their work out into the public! @smithcollege.bsky.social @emorywgss.bsky.social @emoryuniversity.bsky.social @msmagazine.com

This is the guy who led Paul Weiss to bend the knee to Trump

Did a Celebrated Researcher Obscure a Baby’s Poisoning? After a newborn died of opioid poisoning, a new branch of pediatrics came into being. But the evidence doesn’t add up.

Excellent long read.

And yet another case where @thelancet.com publishes a turkey and then refuses to "correct the record" when found to be wanting. 🙄

Retraction is not enough. These sorts of mistakes need strong flags and to be used as a learning tool.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...