Almost 70% of NHS areas in England only offer one cycle of IVF, data shows

Charity says situation breaks Nice guidelines and is having devastating impact on couples struggling with infertility

Millions of women in England are only able to access one round of IVF on the NHS because of health authority cutbacks and in contravention of official policy, research from a fertility charity has shown.

Nearly 70% of local areas fund just one cycle for women under 40 who have been unable to conceive for two years, rather than the three full cycles they should be offered in line with official guidance, according to data collected by the Progress Educational Trust (PET).

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‘Part of our biological toolkit’: newborn babies can anticipate rhythm in music, researchers find

Brain activity suggests newborns can detect and predict patterns relating to rhythm, study says

Newborn babies can anticipate rhythm in pieces of music, researchers have discovered, offering insights into a fundamental human trait.

Babies in the womb begin to respond to music by about eight or nine months, as shown by changes in their heart rate and body movements, said Dr Roberta Bianco, the first author of the research who is based at the Italian Institute of Technology in Rome.

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Lelia Duley obituary

My wife, Lelia Duley, who has died aged 67, was an obstetric epidemiologist who studied health outcomes related to pregnancy, childbirth and its aftermath.

Working alongside frontline clinicians, she designed large-scale trials to test commonly used, but under-evaluated, treatments for pregnant women.

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Support new mothers with mental ill health | Letter

Perinatal mental illness is eminently treatable, and women and their partners should not suffer in silence, says Dr Livia Martucci

Every day, many new mothers continue to suffer in silence, as highlighted in your article (Seven out of 10 UK mothers feel overloaded, research reveals, 28 January). The Royal College of Psychiatrists revealed postnatal depression harmed up to 85,000 new mums in England last year.

Maternal suicide is one of the leading causes of death among women between six weeks and a year after birth. Perinatal mental illness accounts for 34% of all deaths in this group during this period. Untreated prenatal and antenatal mental illness also affects unborn infants, potentially putting them at risk of premature birth and low birth weight. Parents may find it difficult to bond with their baby once they are born, which can contribute to attachment issues.

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Anna longed for a second child. Coming to terms with secondary infertility meant letting go of her fixed notion of family | Bianca Denny

Therapy helped her sit with the uncertainty of being part of a single-child family – and realise others’ successes with pregnancy were not her failures

• The modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work

Anna* delighted in motherhood and was eager to add a second child to her family. She expected conception and pregnancy to again be quick and easy, but after a year of negative pregnancy tests, Anna’s doctor used a term she’d not heard before: secondary infertility.

For Anna, the anguish associated with secondary infertility – the inability to conceive or carry to term a second or subsequent child – was pervading all aspects of her life. Anna believed her family to be incomplete without a second child and was devastated at the thought of her child growing up without a sibling.

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Taliban birth control ban: women ‘broken’ by lethal pregnancies and untreated miscarriages

Women across Afghanistan describe the traumatic impact of disappearing clinics and contraception

Parwana* no longer recognises her own children. Once known for her beauty in her village in Kandahar province, the 36-year-old sits on the floor of her mother’s home, rocking silently. After nine pregnancies and six miscarriages, many under pressure from her husband and in-laws, Parwana has slipped into a permanent state of confusion.

“She is lost,” says her mother, Sharifa. “They broke her with fear, pregnancies and violence.”

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As LA maternity wards close, patients are giving birth in ERs: ‘There’s no system to care for these women’

From 2016 to 2023, more than 26,500 people, mostly Latino, have gone to an ER in LA county to seek birthing care

This story was produced in partnership with the non-profit newsroom Type Investigations and the investigative reporting program at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

Sigita Cahoon’s 16 September 2024 stretched through the night.

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