--- title: Women's Health Should Be a Bipartisan Priority description: A lack of investment in women's health research is costing lives, writes women's health activist Maria Shriver. canonical: https://time.com/7324247/womens-health-maternal-mortality-funding/ author: Maria Shriver article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-10-09T10:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T13:07:48.271Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Women's Health Should Be a Bipartisan Priority og:description: A lack of investment in women's health research is costing lives, writes women's health activist Maria Shriver og:url: https://time.com/7324247/womens-health-maternal-mortality-funding/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1a2a28b012de834/6998caa747fe517f5e55c284/government-shutdown.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Government Shutdown Looms As House And Senate Disagree On Funding Bill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Women's Health Should Be a Bipartisan Priority twitter:description: A lack of investment in women's health research is costing lives, writes women's health activist Maria Shriver twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1a2a28b012de834/6998caa747fe517f5e55c284/government-shutdown.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  IDEAS Time ideas # Women's Health Should Be a Bipartisan Priority > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a424b7e0-6917-4e75-9cac-c7414f292438&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Maria Shriver](https://time.com/author/maria-shriver/)  ## Maria Shriver Oct 9, 2025 10:00 AM UTC  A view of the U.S. Capitol as the sun sets on Sept. 29, 2025 in Washington, DC. A view of the U.S. Capitol as the sun sets on Sept. 29, 2025 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymake—Getty Images  by [Maria Shriver](https://time.com/author/maria-shriver/)  ## Maria Shriver Oct 9, 2025 10:00 AM UTC The federal government is [shut down](https://time.com/7322164/government-shutdown-begins-donald-trump/). People are losing their jobs and [millions are about to lose their health care](https://www.npr.org/2025/09/15/nx-s1-5503581/millions-of-americans-expected-to-lose-health-coverage-over-the-next-decade). That means Americans are going to have to make life and death decisions when it comes to their health and the health of their families. I’m having déjà vu. This is just one more example of a government insensitive to the realities of people's health needs. Last week, President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested a link between pregnant women taking [Tylenol and an increased risk of autism in their children](https://time.com/7322067/tylenol-autism-rfk-jr-science/). Calling on women to [“tough it out”](https://www.statnews.com/2025/09/24/tylenol-use-pregnancy-fever-greater-risk-than-autism/) by not taking the over-the-counter medication is not the answer. Health authorities around the country were quick to point out that evidence suggests acetaminophen is an effective and safe treatment for pregnant women and poses no risk to an unborn child. Still, to millions of young mothers and pregnant women, the announcement landed like a thunderbolt—another reminder of how often women are told to “tough it out” rather than given real research, guidance, and support when it comes to their health. **Read more:** [_Does Tylenol Cause Autism? RFK Jr. Is Forcing America to Ask the Wrong Question._ ](https://time.com/7322067/tylenol-autism-rfk-jr-science/) I know what it means to try to “tough it out.” During every one of my pregnancies, I suffered with debilitating morning sickness. During my fourth pregnancy, I was hospitalized for six weeks with a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum. At the time, doctors didn’t know what was causing my extreme nausea and incessant vomiting because there was no research to explain it. Thanks to science, 28 years later, we now know both the cause and are close to identifying treatments for the condition. But back then, lying in a hospital bed, I was told simply to endure the excruciating pain along with the constant fear that I might lose my child. This is just one example of how women have long been impacted by a lack of medical answers—not just during pregnancy, but at every important juncture of our lives. It would be a great national service to provide women of all ages with medical information based on facts, science, and research so that they can make sound decisions about infertility, pregnancy, or menopause. Women do not need to be lectured by a president of the United States who has never been pregnant about how to “tough it out.” By the way, Black women are dying in record numbers [during and after their pregnancies](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/racial-gap-widens-in-maternal-mortality-around-time-of-childbirth). Maternal health is a real issue in this country, and Tylenol isn’t to blame for that, either. What we need is a government willing to invest in understanding why [women make up two-thirds of those who get Alzheimer’s](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03564-3), why we make up [two-thirds of those with MS](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33815241/), and, critically, why a woman dies every two minutes from the [complications of pregnancy and childbirth](https://www.unfpa.org/news/every-two-minutes-woman-dies-pregnancy-and-childbirth-tackling-global-maternal-health-crisis) globally, with the [rate for Black women in the U.S. nearly three times as high](https://projects.apnews.com/features/2023/from-birth-to-death/black-women-maternal-mortality-rate.html) as for whites. Where is the research to help us with these questions? We are still waiting. Meanwhile, the realities of caring for our nation’s health fall largely on women. In more households than not, [women are the ones making the health care decisions](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25418222/). They decide what their families eat, when their children see a doctor, how their partners get treated, and how their parents receive care. Yet too often, they put their own health last. The consequences can be dire. [Women disproportionately suffer chronic disease](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK607719/), on average spend [25% more time in poor health](https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/closing-the-womens-health-gap-a-1-trillion-dollar-opportunity-to-improve-lives-and-economies) than men, and, on average, experience the [final 12 to 14 years of their lives in frail health](https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/healthy-aging/ageless-aging-increasing-womens-healthspan-brainspan-and-lifespan/). Decades of underfunding and under-research mean women are still diagnosed late, treated inadequately, and left to manage conditions that could have been prevented or better addressed. And, not surprisingly, when women’s health breaks down, the health of men and children in their care breaks down, too. **Read more:** [_We Shouldn’t Have to Be Willing to Die to Give Birth in the U.S._](https://time.com/6965534/serena-williams-elaine-welteroth-black-maternal-health-birthfund/) This is not just a women’s issue. It’s a children’s health issue. A men’s health issue. A national health issue. Philanthropists like [Melinda French Gates and Regina Dugan](https://www.upi.com/Health%5FNews/2025/09/10/melinda-french-gates-pledges-100M-womens-health-research/5451757533250/) have recently stepped in with a [$100 million investment in women’s health research](https://www.forbes.com/sites/moiraforbes/2025/09/10/melinda-french-gates-backs-100-million-bet-on-womens-health-breakthroughs/). The Gates Foundation announced it would invest [$2.5 billion for research and development for women’s health](https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-center/press-releases/2025/08/womens-health-funding-commitment) around the world. These are heroic and welcome advancements, but philanthropy cannot solve the problem alone. The federal government, Congress, states, insurers, leaders in business and technology, and academic institutions all need to commit to closing the women’s health gap with billions more dedicated to research, treatment innovation, and prevention. We need an urgent, society-wide effort that matches the scale of the problem—and the scale of the opportunity. I was proud to work with the last administration to launch the first ever [White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research](https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/womenshealthresearch/), the first time women’s health was placed at the center of the federal government. That initiative showed what is possible when women’s health is treated as a national priority. That effort was unprecedented, but it was just a start. What we need now is not retreat, but expansion. Women’s health is a bipartisan issue, something for Congress to remember as it faces turmoil over budgets and drastic cuts to medical care and research. There has been successful cooperation in the past, which benefitted women. Both parties joined forces to support the [Uterine Fibroid Intervention and Gynecological Health and Treatment Act](https://www.alsobrooks.senate.gov/press-releases/alsobrooks-lummis-introduce-bipartisan-u-fight-act-in-the-senate/) and the [Women and Lung Cancer Research and Preventive Services Act](https://boyle.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/boyle-fitzpatrick-smith-capito-introduce-bipartisan-bicameral-bill). Advancing women’s health is a win for everyone, cutting across age, race, geography, and political persuasion. There is no red or blue in the exam room. If America is serious about tackling chronic disease, and if we are serious about making the nation healthy again, then women’s health must be at the center of the effort. With expanded investment and greater urgency and cooperation across the aisle, we can save lives, strengthen families, and finally give women—our mothers, sisters, and daughters—the care and futures they deserve. [TIME Ideas](https://www.time.com/ideas) hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. 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