Menopause is having a moment, but women aren't getting real care | Opinion

I should be celebrating. After decades of menopause being dismissed as "just hot flashes" by both laypeople and the medical community, we're finally seeing genuine public discourse on the topic. Celebrities are speaking out, asking for hormone treatment is no longer taboo, and women are sharing their experiences on social media without shame.

But as an OB-GYN, I'm not celebrating. I'm angry.

Don't misunderstand: The increased visibility of this phase of women's lives is long overdue. Women deserve to understand what's happening to their bodies, as well as access to treatment options and medical validation. But the current menopause "moment" reveals something deeply troubling: We only seem to care about women's health when there's money to be made, evidence optional – all while we ignore the very real problems surrounding pregnancy care in this country.

Women deserve real care, not doctors profiting off them

Open Instagram and you'll see it: doctors – yes, actual MDs – hawking perimenopause supplements for $150 with dubious claims. Powders, detoxes, cleanses promising to "balance your hormones" are everywhere. Seminars where you can pay $125 to “demystify” menopause (led by doctors who also sell supplements, of course) are cropping up in major cities across America.

The menopause market is projected to reach $24.4 billion by 2030, and everyone wants their cut.

The irony is crushing. Historically, researchers have struggled to secure even the most basic funding for women’s health research, costing millions of women their health and in some cases even their lives.

Now, venture capitalists are tripping over themselves to invest in companies selling solutions – many of which are backed by minimal evidence. We've commodified a life transition and called it empowerment so that rich investors can get richer.

This isn’t the version of feminism – or health care – that we need.

To add insult to injury, medical professionals who profit off of your fears are committing an enormous miscarriage of ethics and information, under the guise of championing women's health. I've watched physicians with large platforms promote unproven treatments and speak in absolutes about complex hormonal issues, all while selling their own branded alternatives. This isn't patient education. It's an unethical, predatory marketing scheme wearing a white coat.

Meanwhile, pregnancy and childbirth in America are in crisis, and no one's lining up to invest at a similar scale.

We know how to solve maternal mortality, but no one wants to invest in it

Our maternal mortality rate is the highest in the developed world, and our preterm birth rates continue to climb.

Black pregnant people are more than three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their White counterparts. Maternal care deserts are expanding as hospitals close obstetric units.

In states with abortion bans, OB-GYNs are fleeing in order to avoid risking prosecution for providing standard medical care.

I reject the idea that we haven’t made progress yet because it’s too hard. These are solvable problems, with research-backed pathways to solutions for maternal health. We know what works: comprehensive prenatal care, better postpartum support, addressing racism in health care, protecting physicians who provide evidence-based care, and bolstering rural health care infrastructure.

We have the studies that prove it. What we don't have is a business model that makes venture capitalists salivate in the same way they do over hormone therapy.

You can't sell a subscription box to fix maternal mortality. There's no supplement for systemic racism in health care. No wellness powder will bring back the OB-GYNs who've left states where they fear arrest. These problems require policy changes, health care system overhauls and sustained investment with no clear ROI. So they languish – without a viral moment on TikTok – invisible and unprofitable.

There's a pervasive myth that any investment in women's health is progress, and that we should be thankful for whatever we are given. That even imperfect attention is better than being ignored. I reject this entirely.

Misinformation actively harms women. When influencer doctors promote unproven treatments while dismissing evidence-based options, they don't just waste money – they erode trust in medical science and create barriers to care that actually works. When women's health discourse centers around what can be sold rather than what creates meaningful health outcomes, we're not making progress. We're just being exploited more efficiently and ensuring that mistrust in the health care system deepens and grows.

Menopause and pregnancy shouldn't be competing priorities

Imagine if the energy behind the menopause economy was directed toward maternal health: comprehensive postpartum care that extends beyond a single six-week checkup, mental health screening and treatment for every new parent, paid family leave, protection for physicians providing pregnancy care, and investment in training more OB-GYNs and midwives in underserved areas.

These interventions would save lives and close racial health disparities. But they require political will and public investment, not venture capital and viral marketing. They require us to value women's health as a public good, not a profit opportunity.

Women going through menopause deserve accurate information and effective treatment. And pregnant people deserve not to die. These shouldn't be competing priorities, but in our current system, they are. The test of our commitment to women's health care shouldn’t be whether we can monetize it, but whether we're willing to invest in the aspects that don't generate profit.

Until we see the same enthusiasm for solving maternal mortality that we see for selling menopause supplements, we haven't actually prioritized women's health. We've just found a new way to profit from it.

Dr. Jennifer Lincoln is a board-certified OB-GYN, practicing OB hospitalist and author of "The Birth Book: An OB-GYN’s Guide to Demystifying Labor and Delivery."