Urgent call for review into sentencing pregnant women due to health risks

Experts and campaigners write open letter to justice secretary and Sentencing Council warning of dangers of giving birth in jail

A coalition of campaigners and health experts is calling for an urgent review into the sentencing of pregnant female offenders, warning of the increased risk of adverse outcomes to babies born in custody.

An open letter to Brandon Lewis, the justice secretary, and the Sentencing Council for England and Wales warns that pregnant women in jail suffer severe stress and highlights evidence suggesting they are more likely to have a stillbirth. The signatories include the Royal College of Midwives and Liberty.

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‘Forever chemicals’ detected in all umbilical cord blood in 40 studies

Studies collectively examined nearly 30,000 samples over the past five years in ‘disturbing’ findings

Toxic PFAS chemicals were detected in every umbilical cord blood sample across 40 studies conducted over the last five years, a new review of scientific literature from around the world has found.

The studies collectively examined nearly 30,000 samples, and many linked fetal PFAS exposure to health complications in unborn babies, young children and later in life. The studies’ findings are “disturbing”, said Uloma Uche, an environmental health science fellow with the Environmental Working Group, which analyzed the peer-reviewed studies’ data.

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‘An amazing gift’: Australia’s first uterus transplants to take place in 2023

A dozen women to receive womb transplants as part of clinical trials at Royal Women’s hospital in Sydney

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A dozen Australian women will become Australia’s first recipients of uterus transplants after a research project was granted approval to begin trials next year.

A dozen women will become Australia’s first recipients of uterus transplants after a research project was granted approval to begin clinical trials.

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Pregnant women being sacked and demoted despite Victorian discrimination laws, study finds

One in seven calls to workers’ rights service JobWatch relate to pregnancy or breastfeeding according to research

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Pregnant women are being sacked, demoted or bullied in the workplace despite laws prohibiting discrimination, a Victorian study shows.

Monash University researchers analysed calls from Victorians to employment rights service JobWatch between 2019 and 2020.

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Pregnant Texas mother ticketed again for carpool lane Roe protest

Brandy Bottone argued that, given the supreme court’s overturning on Roe v Wade, there were two people in her car

A pregnant woman from Texas who made news around the world after she protested against being cited for driving in a high-occupancy (HOV) lane in the wake of the state’s new anti-abortion law has been ticketed a second time.

Brandy Bottone, 32 and from Plano, became an international sensation when she was issued her first traffic ticket for violating the HOV rules in June.

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