Big Wins for Women's Health in 2025: What You Need to Know

2025 marked a pivotal year for women's health, with major legal victories expanding reproductive rights across Asia and groundbreaking research revealing critical gaps in maternal mental health care. From the Philippines decriminalizing consensual adolescent relationships to new studies showing alarming increases in maternal mental health struggles, this year brought both progress and urgent calls for systemic change.

What Legal Changes Happened for Reproductive Rights?

The Center for Reproductive Rights achieved significant milestones across Asia in their fight to protect adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In the Philippines, a monumental legal change occurred when the country decriminalized consensual activity among adolescents—a victory that followed years of advocacy work.

Nepal saw major progress toward legal reform, with the Center submitting formal recommendations to the government urging decriminalization of consensual sexual acts among adolescents. The organization also partnered with the High Court Bar Association to convene high-level dialogues among lawyers, Supreme Court Justices, and High Court judges to build support for law reform.

In India, the Center continues its legal advocacy to decriminalize consensual and non-exploitative sexual activity among adolescents, working alongside partners like the Abortion Rights Alliance for Inclusion, Safety and Empowerment (ARISE) to advance access to abortion and other reproductive health services.

How Are Fathers' Mental Health Needs Being Recognized?

Two groundbreaking studies in 2025 shed new light on paternal mental health during the perinatal period. A United Kingdom research team published the first study examining perinatal mood episodes in fathers with a history of bipolar disorders, revealing that more than 1 in 3 fathers (36.2 percent) experienced a recurrence of bipolar symptoms during their partner's pregnancy or postpartum period.

The timing of these episodes was particularly telling:

• Pregnancy Period: 41.9 percent of bipolar episodes occurred during their partner's pregnancy
• Postpartum Period: 58.1 percent occurred during the first six months after birth
• Overall Impact: These findings highlight the critical need for proactive monitoring and targeted support for fathers with psychiatric histories

A second study explored the concept of "mental load" in fathers—the emotional thinking work typically associated with mothers. Researchers interviewed 31 fathers and found that while fathers do experience invisible work of parenting, they frame it differently than mothers, focusing on being "fully engaged" parents and comparing themselves to other fathers and mothers.

What Concerning Trends Emerged in Maternal Mental Health?

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine revealed alarming trends in maternal mental health over the past decade. Data from nearly 200,000 United States mothers from 2016–2023 showed a nearly 65 percent increase in reports of fair to poor mental health. While fathers also experienced mental health declines, mothers' deterioration was consistently worse.

Racial disparities remained a critical concern, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) releasing updated maternal mortality data showing declines among all racial and ethnic groups except for Black women. Pregnancy-related deaths for Black women in the United States continue to be three times higher than for any other group, with structural racism, systemic neglect, and healthcare bias continuing to fuel these disparities.

The year also brought intense scrutiny to medication safety during pregnancy. In July, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel discussed the safety of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy, prompting responses from organizations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), which reiterated evidence supporting the medications' safety while highlighting risks of untreated prenatal depression.

Technology and artificial intelligence (AI) showed promise for improving perinatal mental health care, with studies demonstrating potential benefits of digital tools like mobile apps and AI-powered risk prediction through electronic health record data. However, questions remain about algorithm bias and ensuring these tools complement rather than replace human care.

"The current weight of evidence does not support a causal link between prenatal acetaminophen use and neurodevelopmental disorders," stated ACOG in response to September guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and FDA suggesting potential risks.