Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's much-touted report on autism, set to drop this month, threatens to be not a new dawn, but an ugly throwback.
If, as widely reported, RFK claims a link between autism and acetaminophen use in pregnancy, he'll be following a familiar playbook: Pick a common maternal behavior, hint at dire consequences -- and let guilt do the rest.
For decades, autism has been used to indict mothers.
In the 1950s, the infamous "refrigerator mother" theory claimed children developed autism because their moms were too cold and unfeeling.
The damage was incalculable.
Families were torn apart as mothers raising children with real struggles were told they themselves were at fault.
Worse, the idea dead-ended autism research for years.
Now Kennedy wants to drag us back, this time blaming not emotional distance but Tylenol, a common over-the-counter medication that millions of mothers have taken for a headache, a fever or late-night pregnancy aches.
This framing is dangerous for two reasons: It's bad science, and it piles more guilt and fear onto mothers already staggering under the load of modern parenting.
To be sure, some studies have raised questions about acetaminophen use in pregnancy.
A 2021 meta-analysis published by researchers at Harvard's School of Public Health suggested a possible association between the medication and autism and ADHD.
But an association is not the same as causation.
Large-scale studies have not found reliable evidence that acetaminophen causes autism, and medical experts consider it safe when used appropriately.
The evidence against acetaminophen is weak and riddled with confounding factors.
It's nowhere near enough to outweigh decades of real-world safety data.
The stronger conclusion from the science is not that pregnant women should avoid Tylenol, but that they should continue to use it judiciously, as recommended by their doctors.
It's worth underlining: Acetaminophen is the only widely recommended pain reliever considered safe in pregnancy.
Scaring women away from it on shaky evidence isn't responsible, it's cruel.
But cruelty to mothers has a long history in the autism debate.
When science can't provide answers, culture fills the void with blame.
We see it again and again.
Condemn cold mothers. Mothers who worked. Mothers who vaccinated.
And now, mothers who dared take an over-the-counter medication while pregnant.
Meanwhile, autism is a complicated condition.
No one element drives an autism diagnosis, and children are diagnosed today based on criteria that didn't exist in the past.
Asperger's syndrome is now within the autism spectrum, increasing the number of diagnoses considerably.
So the reported rise in autism may not represent increased cases, but a rise in labels, recognition and support.
Some research flags other risk factors like parental age, especially the father's age at the time of conception.
Maternal fevers in early pregnancy have been floated as a possible contributing factor as well -- perhaps explaining the observed link to acetaminophen.
It's easier to wag our fingers at mothers than to wrestle with the complexity of genetics, neurology or environmental exposures.
It's more satisfying to say "you did this" than to admit "we don't fully understand."
But look around. That burden is breaking women.
A new NBC News survey found that the majority of Gen Z women, at both ends of the political spectrum, say they don't want children.
The reasons are clear: The pressure is too high, the risks too great, the blame too relentless.
Now try telling those same young women that if they get pregnant, even America's most common pain medication could doom their baby.
Does anyone believe this kind of rhetoric will encourage family life?
Or is it more likely to fuel the hesitation and fear already keeping a generation away from motherhood?
Autism is not a mother's fault. It never was.
The tragedy is that millions of women have been told otherwise, and millions more are still being put through the same gauntlet of guilt.
RFK's crusade is only the latest iteration. He is not exposing a scandal. He is reviving a myth that should have died long ago.
Autism is real, and we need research founded on humility, rigor and compassion.
Families need therapies, schools and social supports.
Mothers need relief, not suspicion.
Kennedy's report doesn't appear poised to advance that work. It threatens to revive a ghost we should have exorcised decades ago.
We don't need another cycle of mother-blaming theories dressed up as science.
We need real answers, real help -- and a culture willing to stop scapegoating women every time it encounters a medical mystery.