Stories She Should Know Before Monday #18

Hey,

Some weeks move too fast to understand while you’re inside them.

So this is our Sunday download, a catch-up on the stories women should know before the week begins. Just the ones that say something about our bodies, work, rights, culture, money, safety, visibility, and lives.

We looked at the week for you. Here’s what mattered for women:
First of all, the FDA just approved a new treatment option for advanced breast cancer.

⚖️ Texas Family Says Abortion Ban Contributed to Pregnant Woman’s Death: The family of a Texas woman who died from a pregnancy-related condition has sued the state attorney general, alleging that Texas’ abortion restrictions prevented doctors from providing the care she needed. The state has not yet responded to the allegations in court.
Why It Matters: Abortion bans are increasingly being tested not only over access, but over what happens when doctors believe pregnancy complications require urgent intervention.

📱 xAI Challenges Minnesota’s AI “Nudification” Law: Elon Musk’s xAI is asking a federal appeals court to block Minnesota’s new law regulating AI-generated explicit images while its constitutional challenge proceeds. The law is aimed at manipulated sexual imagery created without consent.
Why It Matters: Sexual deepfakes have created a new form of digital abuse. This case could help determine how far states can go in regulating it.

🎗️ FDA Approves New Combination for Advanced Breast Cancer: The FDA has approved Eli Lilly’s Inluriyo-Verzenio combination for adults with a type of metastatic breast cancer carrying an ESR1 mutation. In a late-stage study, patients on the combination went a median 11.1 months before their cancer worsened, compared with 5.5 months on Inluriyo alone.
Why It Matters: Advanced breast cancer is rarely about one universal treatment. More targeted options mean treatment can increasingly follow the biology of a woman’s tumor.

🩺 Congress Holds Its First-Ever Hearing on Menopause: The Senate held its first congressional hearing devoted entirely to menopause this week, focusing on research gaps, medical training and access to care.
Why It Matters: Menopause affects millions of women, but federal attention has lagged behind the reality of their care. Getting it onto the congressional agenda is a meaningful shift in how seriously midlife women’s health is being treated.

🩺 42% of U.S. Women Say Their Health Has Affected Their Careers: New Gallup-Pivotal research involving more than 5,200 Americans found 42% of women said health issues had affected their work or career. Among women unable to get needed care, that rose to 66%.
Why It Matters: Women’s health does not stay at the doctor’s office. Poor care can quietly become fewer hours, missed promotions, career changes or leaving work altogether.

🤰 EEOC Recovers $97,000 in Two Pregnancy Discrimination Cases: The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission resolved two cases involving pregnant workers who it says were denied accommodations or pushed out of their jobs, recovering more than $97,000 for the women involved.
Why It Matters: Pregnancy protections exist on paper. Cases like these show why enforcement still matters when asking for basic accommodations can put a woman’s job at risk.

💵 U.S. Gender Pay Gap Narrows But, Women Still Earn Less: New Census Bureau data show women working full time, year-round earned 83.9 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2025, up from 80.6 cents the year before. Median annual earnings for women were still about $11,600 lower than men’s.
Why It Matters: A narrowing gap is progress, but a five-figure annual difference still compounds through savings, investing, homeownership and retirement.

🔬 Women’s Health Startup Evvy Raises $40 Million: New York-based Evvy raised a $40 million Series B to expand its vaginal microbiome platform and use data from more than 100,000 patients to research fertility and other women’s-health outcomes.
Why It Matters: Women’s health has historically struggled for research dollars and growth-stage investment. A $40 million round signals that the category is increasingly being treated as serious science and serious business.

🏀 Kelsey Mitchell Sets WNBA Single-Season Scoring Record: Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell scored 33 points against Toronto on September 18, pushing her season total to 1,034 and surpassing A’ja Wilson’s previous WNBA record of 1,021.
Why It Matters: Mitchell didn’t just have a career night. She rewrote the league’s scoring record in a season where women’s basketball continues to push its own ceiling higher.

🏃‍♀️ Athlos Takes Its All-Women Track Meet Global: The women-only Athlos competition staged its first event outside the U.S. in London, with Sha’Carri Richardson winning the 100m, Gabby Thomas the 200m and Keely Hodgkinson the 800m. The meet combines elite competition with athlete ownership, entertainment and significant prize money.
Why It Matters: Athlos is testing a different model for women’s sport: build the event around the women athletes themselves rather than asking them to share the spotlight.

🏆 Jean Smart Makes Emmy History With Fifth Straight Hacks Win: Jean Smart won her fifth consecutive Emmy for lead actress in a comedy for Hacks, becoming the first woman to win an acting Emmy for every season of a television series. The victory also brought her career total to eight performance Emmys.
Why It Matters: At 75, Smart is having one of the defining runs of her career another reminder that women’s cultural relevance does not have to peak young.

📚 Pulitzer-Winning Writer Annie Dillard Dies at 81: American author Annie Dillard, best known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, died this week at her Massachusetts home. Her work stretched across essays, poetry, fiction and nature writing over more than five decades.
Why It Matters: Dillard built a literary career around paying radical attention to ordinary life and became one of the most distinctive American women writers of her generation.

⚠️ Epstein Survivors Sue Over Child Sexual Abuse Images: Two women whose childhood images were found in Jeffrey Epstein’s collection have filed a proposed class action against his estate, seeking damages on behalf of more than 40 people whose images allegedly appeared in material seized from his properties.
Why It Matters: Abuse does not necessarily end when the perpetrator dies. Images can survive, circulate and keep violating the people depicted in them long afterward.

🕯️ Nine Women’s Killings Spark Protests Across South Africa: Memorial runs and vigils were held this week after police discovered the bodies of nine women near Johannesburg over the past two months. Authorities are investigating whether the killings are connected, while protesters are demanding stronger action against gender-based violence.
Why It Matters: Women are again being told to change where they walk, run and exist to stay safe. Protesters are asking why the burden of preventing violence keeps falling back on women.

Women are still asking for the basics to work better: care that listens, workplaces that support them, financial security that lasts, and systems that keep them safe.

Her Weekly Download now drops Tuesdays and Fridays, with Her Sunday Download bringing you the stories she should know before Monday begins.

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