Fundraising Over Solutions: Women’s Health and a Missed Opportunity Post-Dobbs
COMMENTARY
In June 2022 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that provided the sought after political fodder to catapult fundraising efforts heading into the 2022 midterm election cycle.
In the June opinion, the court overruled two cases from 1973 and 1992, and returned the matter of regulating abortion to “the people and their elected representatives” (i.e., the individual states). In lieu of understanding the court’s opinion through a modern-day lens, politicians and organizations ran with the most divisive and hysterical messaging possible, which only deepened the existing public chasm.
If a proper assessment on the application and impact of the court’s opinion were undertaken — through a 21st century lens, several considerations not available in the 1950s would have been revealed. Enter health tech.
Health tech has pushed innovation and investment headlines for years leading up to 2022, and generally positioned itself as an individualized and more consumer-centric model than conventional approaches to health care. This burgeoning sector has been attractive to investors and consumers alike as the range of needs that health tech can serve are vast, such as women’s health and reproductive health. Hence, this category was perfectly teed up to deliver new approaches and solutions to pregnancy and the broader conversation on reproductive health.
The amount of information — specific to one’s body — that a woman now has access to is extraordinary. Health tech offers a multitude of women’s health platforms such as period trackers, peri-menopausal symptom trackers and fertility trackers to name just a few.
Through these applications, women of all ages have access to more information about their individual bodies, and with that knowledge, better informed activities and health decisions can be undertaken and made.
Yet none of these were brought to the fore post-Dobbs.
If the crux of the discussion related to abortion is a woman’s health, then explore modern modalities and health technologies to advance the conversation. The political theater post-Dobbs — by design and with great purpose — was pure emotional manipulation.
The missed opportunity lies squarely with the lack of curiosity. The court’s ruling — regardless of your position on abortion — was a rare opportunity to highlight the value of contemporary approaches to women’s health. The court’s ruling was a moment in time to address the challenges faced by this promising industry sector, such as funding limitations and data ownership, privacy and control concerns.
The conversation continues to remain narrow. A missed opportunity indeed.
Tami L. Wahl is a consultant for innovators currently serving as legislative and regulatory counsel. You can reach her by email, on LinkedIn or through her website.
