Why aren’t Republicans thrilled by the fall in teen pregnancies? | Arwa Mahdawi

In the US, the birth rate for 15- to 19-year-olds dropped 7% last year. But what seems like good news for society has been lamented by some leading Maga figures

Teenagers these days, eh? Instead of having unprotected sex and popping out babies, they’re wasting their time on TikTok, or something. According to a recent report, the teenage birth rate in the US fell by 7% in 2025. While this might seem like a positive development, it has been a cause of dismay among the Maga-adjacent crowd.

Take Fox News, which ran a segment framing the drop in teen pregnancies as alarming. “We still have 3.6 million births a year,” noted the medical analyst Marc Siegel. “But the problem is teens and young adults. From ages 15 to 19, the fertility rate is down 7%, and it’s down 70% over the last two decades, meaning we’re telling people that are young not to have babies, to wait until they’re in a more stable life situation.” I’m sorry, that’s a problem?

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Taking Tylenol during pregnancy has no link to autism, new study finds

Trump has pushed unfounded claims of Tylenol use in pregnancy being tied to ‘a very increased risk of autism’

Taking acetaminophen – known in the US by the brand name Tylenol – during pregnancy has no effect on later autism diagnoses, according to a sweeping new study from Denmark published on Monday.

The Trump administration has targeted Tylenol use in pregnancy as a major cause of autism in children, which appears to have led to a drop in pregnant people taking the pain reliever.

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Black women in Georgia turn to midwives for safer births – so why does the state criminalize many of them?

A new lawsuit seeks to decriminalize the work of midwives banned from providing care amid a worsening maternal health crisis

When Tamara Taitt moved to Georgia in 2023 to run the Atlanta Birth Center, she found herself in what she calls “an extraordinary position”. Under Georgia law, the center’s own executive director cannot provide routine clinical care for the center’s own clients. She could even face criminal charges for doing so.

Taitt is a nationally accredited midwife. She directs one of the only freestanding birth centers in the state – a destination for women seeking to give birth outside a hospital, cared for by midwives rather than obstetricians. Families choose birth centers to access more holistic, less medicalized prenatal care and birth, and to avoid invasive medical interventions in a state where C-sections occur at three times the rate recommended by the World Health Organization.

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Female athletes’ fertility is still a blind spot | Letter

Dr Mireia Galian argues that paid, protected time off for fertility assessment and treatment should be standard across women’s sports

As you report, changes to insurance cover for female athletes following the Carney review are welcome (Landmark changes to insurance cover for female athletes to be implemented, 30 March). Addressing contraception, pregnancy, menopause and other health conditions disproportionately affecting women is long overdue.

Yet one crucial blind spot remains: fertility. Elite athletes push their bodies to extremes, often with low body fat and intense training, which can disrupt hormones and menstrual cycles. Nearly two-thirds experience irregular or absent periods, which can affect fertility.

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Trying to conceive? Welcome to the worry-filled world of ‘trimester zero’

An army of ‘pregnancy prep’ influencers is offering would-be parents everything from sensible advice to quackery and questionable supplements. What’s really needed?

Anything to do with pregnancy can sometimes feel like a crash course in withstanding uncertainty. From getting pregnant in the first place to avoiding complications later on, any parent-to-be is forced to reckon with the limits of their own control.

The stats around this are worth emphasising: about one in seven couples in the UK will have difficulty conceiving. About one in eight known pregnancies will end in a loss. And as many as 29% of low-risk pregnancies will experience some kind of unforeseen complication. Often there’s no rhyme or reason to any of this. “You can do everything ‘right’ and still face delays. That’s biology, not failure,” says Dr Linda Farahani, a consultant gynaecologist and specialist in reproductive medicine at the Lister Fertility Clinic in Chelsea, London.

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Native birth workers are guiding Alaskan mothers through pregnancy once again: ‘I felt really supported and honored’

Indigenous doulas are creating support networks for mothers who are at the highest risk of pregnancy-related death

Mary Sherbick found out she was pregnant at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Although she and her partner had planned it, the pandemic was anxiety-inducing and isolating. While scrolling on social media, she came across online talking circles for Alaska Native women, organized by Alaska Native Birthworkers Community (ANBC), who were pregnant or postpartum. Sherbick, who is Yupik, immediately signed up.

“A lot of us were also just concerned about the way that we would be treated, and some of our concerns of pain or our birth plans within a hospital setting,” Sherbick said. “I think a lot of the women that I talked to just were aware of the history of how Indigenous women, Indigenous people in general, have been treated, and the sterilization programs that have been done unknowingly to Indigenous people.”

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US company to pay $22.5m over newborn’s death after denying woman remote work

Chelsea Walsh prematurely gave birth after firm rejected work from home request in 2021 amid high-risk pregnancy

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An Ohio freight-brokerage firm must pay $22.5m in damages to a woman whom the company denied permission to work from home as she tried managing pregnancy complications – and then endured her newborn’s death after prematurely giving birth, a state court jury has decided.

The case centering on Chelsea Walsh, her late daughter Magnolia, and Total Quality Logistics (TQL) unfolded as many employers increasingly allowed remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic – but then pushed to get workers physically back into the office.

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