For Lucy Martinez, 28, who is 27 weeks pregnant and battling severe nerve pain in her back and legs, Tylenol has been a crucial aid. Living in Pocatello, Idaho, Martinez fractured a vertebra in a snowboarding accident last January. Discovering her pregnancy months later meant switching from strong painkillers to managing her recovery alongside her pregnancy.
She described her pain on difficult days as ‘unbearable.’ This made her particularly distressed when President Trump advised pregnant women to simply ‘tough it out’ instead of using Tylenol. He suggested a link between acetaminophen (Tylenol’s active ingredient) and autism, a claim not supported by the medical community, who generally deem the drug safe in moderation.
Martinez immediately consulted her doctor about continuing her pain medication. Despite reassurance that it was safe, she found herself in tears, overcome by the fear of potential blame should anything go wrong with her pregnancy.
Pregnancy is often a challenging journey, even under the best circumstances. Bodies undergo significant changes, leading to discomforts like shifting spines, leg cramps, and headaches. Expectant mothers are constantly balancing their own well-being with the health of their developing baby, meticulously monitoring their diet and habits. They rely on guidance from healthcare professionals, doulas, and partners. Now, they are also receiving unexpected counsel from the nation’s leader.
During a White House briefing, Trump emphatically stated, ‘Don’t take it. Fight like hell not to take it,’ referring to Tylenol. He acknowledged rare exceptions, such as cases of dangerously high fever.
For many pregnant women and their doctors, Trump’s pronouncement introduced yet another layer of stress. Expectant mothers already face a deluge of advice and judgment from various sources, sometimes even from complete strangers. Meaghan English, 38, from Boston, who is 34 weeks pregnant, felt a sense of surreal disbelief as she watched Trump’s news conference unfold while in her obstetrician’s office.
English, who also has a healthy two-year-old, relies on Tylenol for migraines, a practice she followed during her first pregnancy. She recently became aware of a Harvard scientific review that indicated a correlation, not causation, between acetaminophen use in pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders. She had already sought reassurance from her obstetrician’s nurse, who confirmed Tylenol’s safety.
Leading health organizations, including the Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, have extensively investigated potential risks of acetaminophen—the most commonly used medication during pregnancy—to developing fetuses. While current research remains inconclusive regarding an established risk, it’s crucial to remember that acetaminophen is vital for treating fever, which itself can be dangerous for a fetus.
Interestingly, for many pregnant women, Trump’s comments echoed their existing cautious approach. Avoiding medication whenever possible is already a widespread practice. Audrey Widodo, 26, residing in Mountain View, California, is 33 weeks into her first pregnancy. She admitted feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information and advice on social media. Her initial inclination was to ‘stick it out’ without medication, though she did consult her doctor and took a prescription for severe nausea.
For other ailments, Widodo has turned to natural remedies, opting for massages or balms over Tylenol for back pain. She shared, ‘Going through pregnancy is just a lot. Because it’s my first time experiencing it, I’m more afraid.’
Lindsey Corey, a mother of two from Lake Worth, Florida, mentioned taking Tylenol during her second pregnancy, but not her first. She noted that her son, Owen, 6, has autism, while her daughter, Molly, 4, does not. Corey, 41, expressed concern that the President’s statements could be perilous, especially given acetaminophen’s role in reducing fever. She lamented, ‘The guilt that you can impart on a mother, the guilt that she may feel that she caused autism to her child, it is so incredibly sad.’
Dr. Laura Andreson, an obstetrician in Franklin, Tennessee, shared that her practice began coaching nurses on how to discuss Tylenol with pregnant women as soon as rumors of Trump’s announcement began to circulate. Dr. Andreson feared that expectant mothers might stop taking the medication, even when the risks of avoiding it often surpass the risks of using it. She warned, ‘High fever in pregnancy can result in birth defects. It could result in miscarriage. It could result in stillbirth.’
Anticipating widespread anxiety among her thousands of patients due to Trump’s remarks, Dr. Andreson confessed, ‘It’s hard to wrap my head around what kind of thought process was behind making these statements.’
Julia Love, 34, from Stoughton, Wisconsin, is due to have her second child, a girl, on Thanksgiving. She felt President Trump’s statements overlooked the extreme caution most expectant mothers already exercise. Love emphasized, ‘Most pregnant people want what’s best for our children, and so we aren’t taking medication casually.’ She personally manages headaches with rest and quiet, not acetaminophen.
However, Love also suffers from gallstones, a pain she likened to childbirth. Since surgery isn’t an option during pregnancy, she follows her doctor’s advice and takes Tylenol.
Almetria Turner, a doula in Memphis, pointed out that such ambiguous advice from high-ranking officials could disproportionately affect Black women, whose pain is frequently minimized, and low-income women, who often have limited access to healthcare. Turner highlighted Tylenol’s accessibility for women without immediate doctor access, stating, ‘If you take that away, what are they supposed to do? Just suffer through the pain, suffer through the fever, suffer through the headaches?’
Catherine Monk, a professor of women’s mental health at Columbia University, stressed that pregnancy is already inherently stressful for many. She asserted, ‘I don’t think anybody’s health is served by it feeling like a politicized topic.’ Monk also called for empathy, acknowledging ‘an urgent, desperate need to identify the cause for this really upsetting diagnosis’ of autism, especially given the challenges faced in severe cases. However, she urged a rational approach, recognizing that most neurodevelopmental disorders result from complex interactions of environmental and genetic factors.
Martinez, from Idaho, expressed concern that individuals might adhere to the administration’s advice for political reasons, disregarding established scientific consensus. She was also dismayed by the President’s portrayal of autistic individuals, including her nonverbal brother. The idea that any mother might internalize blame for her child’s autism is deeply upsetting to her. Martinez concluded, ‘It’s overwhelming. Pregnancy alone is overwhelming.’