Tylenol is safe in pregnancy. That’s why doctors, not politicians, prescribe it. | Opinion

During my recent twin pregnancy, pain and discomfort were constant companions. Early on I had three separate episodes of heavy bleeding. Certain conditions can cause bleeding, including miscarriage, something I’ve experienced four times before.

Fortunately I was able to carry my twins for 37 weeks, but it was hard, I got sick with a fever, and there were times I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get out of bed from pain. I took acetaminophen only when my doctor said it was appropriate and only when the pain was unbearable.

That wasn’t impulsive, it was evidence-based care. Which is why the current administration’s sweeping warnings that pregnant women shouldn’t take acetaminophen are not just reckless; they’re dangerous. Blanket pronouncements from politicians flatten nuance into fear. They don’t sit with the patient who hasn’t slept from back and pelvic pain. They don’t weigh the risks of untreated fever. They don’t field the midnight calls from women scared to swallow a tablet their own OB recommended.

I lived that fear.

After years marked by miscarriage, a fatal fetal diagnosis, and the trauma of delivering a baby I knew would never cry, I have learned to ask careful, specific questions and to follow medical guidance exactly. I shouldn’t have to second-guess my doctor because a podium statement turned a routine medication into a moral toughness test. I know what happens when politics crowds the exam room.

In past pregnancies, I navigated laws that pushed care later and made every decision feel suspect. Now, a simple, clinically sound choice, taking acetaminophen for severe pain or a fever, gets recast as irresponsible. That stigma doesn’t protect anyone. It isolates patients, handcuffs clinicians, and replaces informed consent with confusion.

If leaders want to help, they can fund maternal health, expand access to obstetric care, and align public guidance with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, not undermine safe, standard treatments with sound bites. Respect for life includes respect for accurate information.

We deserve to share our struggles openly and to receive care grounded in evidence, not ideology. I will not apologize for following my doctor’s advice. I will not accept a politics that makes women choose between untreated pain and public shaming. Women are capable of making careful, informed decisions with their physicians. That is the correct chain of command in healthcare, patient and doctor, not politician and microphone.

We don’t have to pretend. We have trusted medicine. We have support. And we have ourselves. Being vulnerable is human. Being safe should be nonnegotiable.

Katie Vandegrift, a resident of Midway, Kentucky, is a mother of 4 who has navigated through eight pregnancies and is an advocate for reproductive health freedom.