Female embryos more likely to die in pregnancy than males, study claims

Analysis of 140,000 embryos contradicts belief that males are more vulnerable and suggests mortality rate for females is higher overall

Female embryos are more likely to die during pregnancy, scientists have claimed, overturning a long-held belief that males are more vulnerable in the first months of life.

Until now the “fragile male” hypothesis had been widely accepted and it was thought that female babies were more robust and less likely to suffer fatal health problems or genetic abnormalities in the womb.

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End the detention of pregnant women at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre | Letters

Stillbirth, miscarriage and acute psychosis are among the problems experienced by pregnant women held in Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre (G2, 4 March). Many of the pregnant women that the charity Medical Justice has assisted there said they received inadequate healthcare. One said she complained about abdominal pains for three weeks before she was sent to A&E, where she miscarried with two guards in attendance. She attempted suicide and was admitted to a psychiatric ward.

Earlier this month Channel 4 News undercover footage captured unacceptable treatment of pregnant women at Yarl’s Wood on camera. The next day a cross-party group of MPs called for an end to the detention of pregnant women, a recommendation made previously by over 300 organisations, including the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

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Tennessee sterilisations in plea deals evokes dark time in America

As Nashville district attorney bans staff from using the invasive surgery as a bargaining chip, critics suggest the practice may not be as rare as people think

Nashville prosecutors have made sterilization of women part of plea negotiations at least four times in the past five years, and the district attorney has banned his staff from using the invasive surgery as a bargaining chip after the latest case.

In the most recent case, first reported by The Tennessean, a woman with a 20-year history of mental illness had been charged with neglect after her five-day-old baby mysteriously died. Her defense attorney says the prosecutor assigned to the case wouldn’t go forward with a plea deal to keep the woman out of prison unless she had the surgery.

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Pregnant migrants 'deterred from seeking antenatal care by potential cost'

Report by Doctors of the World UK says deterrent can lead to complex problems in childbirth which may have been avoided if treatment had been sought earlier

Vulnerable female migrants may be putting their health and that of their unborn children at risk by not seeking maternity care because they are afraid of being billed thousand of pounds, a charity has claimed.

A report published by charity Doctors of the World UK found many migrants and asylum seekers feared high costs, being arrested or thrown out of the UK if they tried to access antenatal care, so would avoid doing so until the later stages of their pregnancy.

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Women have the right to prenatal genetic testing - and to choose abortion | Jacqui Morton

Many chromosomal abnormalities can be detected early on in the gestation period. But women who test for them often face judgement

Make an excited announcement that you’re pregnant, and you know what people will say next. “Congratulations!” or “When’s the baby due?” are the usual responses. After that, though, and in hushed tones, you might hear something else: “Are you going to have The Testing”?

They are referring to prenatal, genetic, testing, which detects whether a fetus has chromosomal abnormalities ranging from Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), Trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome) or Trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome), to a number of other conditions including Cystic Fibrosis and Tay Sachs Disease. The prognosis and treatment for each of these diagnoses is very different, but at the center of it is a very complicated question.

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Supreme court sides with former UPS driver in pregnancy discrimination suit

• Peggy Young claims UPS rejected request for light-duty work during pregnancy


• In 6-3 decision, justices send case to lower court for possible trial

The US supreme court on Wednesday backed a former United Parcel Service Inc driver who filed a discrimination lawsuit against the company for refusing to give her light-duty work when she was pregnant.

In a 6-3 vote, the justices sent the case back to the lower court for a possible trial. A federal district court judge and an appeals court had previously thrown out the lawsuit and sided with UPS, but will now have to contend with whether the package delivery company violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in its treatment of the former employee, Peggy Young.

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Antibiotic used in pregnancy linked to risk of epilepsy and cerebral palsy

Children of mothers prescribed macrolide antibiotics may be more likely to be affected by the conditions

Scientists have raised the alert about an antibiotic routinely prescribed for chest infections, after linking it to an increased risk of epilepsy and cerebral palsy in children whose mothers took the drug during pregnancy.

Children of mothers who had taken macrolide antibiotics were found to be almost twice as likely to be affected by the conditions, prompting scientists to call for a review of their use during pregnancy. The study authors urged pregnant women not to stop taking prescribed antibiotics, however. The potential adverse effects are rare and, as yet, unproven, while infections during pregnancy are a well-established cause of health problems in babies.

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More and more childless Britons head overseas to find surrogate mothers

Thai, Indian and US women paid to bear children as global trade grows

Childless Britons desperate to start a family are fuelling a growing global trade in surrogate mothers by paying up to £85,000 for a child, research reveals.

UK citizens are statistically the likeliest in Europe to look abroad for a way of having a child, as increasing numbers of infertile straight couples and gay men and women engage the help of agencies in countries such as Thailand, India and the US to find a suitable surrogate.

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'I gave birth yesterday' - mothers with their brand new babies

Photographer Jenny Lewis has taken a series of portraits of mothers at a special time – just home with their brand new babies. Susanna Rustin talks to her about the project

• See more of Jenny Lewis’ pictures of mothers with their newborn babies

Jenny Lewis didn’t read baby books before her children were born. “I wasn’t that anxious. I had this crazy notion that everything was going to be fine,” she says. She squeezed in one four-hour antenatal class before her daughter Ruby arrived in a birthing pool.

When she met other pregnant women after Herb, her second child, was born at home, she was struck by their anxiety: “I just saw all this fear and I had this overwhelming desire to say, ‘It’s going to be OK.’”

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The cult of natural childbirth has gone too far | Eliane Glaser

A report condemning midwife ‘musketeers’ of Morecambe Bay brought back memories of my own emergency caesarean. Being bullied into a natural birth is not what I call feminism

Among a “lethal mix” of failings, the key finding of the investigation into baby deaths at Furness general hospital was a group of “over-zealous” midwives known as “the musketeers” who imposed the natural childbirth approach “at any cost”; refused to call doctors when needed; and colluded to conceal their negligence.

This finding runs counter to an orthodoxy that has governed childbirth for the past half-century. To learn that the rationale behind midwife-led units will now be scrutinised in a review of NHS England’s maternity services is to hear the screeching of brakes on the juggernaut that is childbirth ideology.

Related: Morecambe Bay report exposes 'lethal mix' of failures that led to baby deaths

A choice is not free when the two paths – “medicalised” and “natural” – are so starkly divided

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Woman acted as surrogate mother for son's IVF baby, court hears

Man in his 20s told he may adopt his biological son after court is told how he embarked on ‘process of becoming a father’ with assistance from his own mother

A woman acted as a surrogate mother for a baby whose biological father is her adult son, a family court judge has been told.

The man, who is in his mid-20s and lives alone, had taken advice from specialist lawyers before embarking on the “process of becoming a father”, Mrs Justice Theis heard. He had looked after the little boy – now seven months old – since birth. Theis has ruled that he can adopt.

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Should I have more saunas?

Research in Finland shows that regular saunas considerably decrease the risk of heart disease in men. Yet saunas in this country often warn those with a heart condition not to use them

Saunas usually have signs warning against their use by pregnant women, children and anyone with a heart condition. Yet in Finland, where there are 1.6m saunas for a population of five million, children often try them in infancy and almost everyone has at least one a week.

Last week, a study in JAMA Internal Medicine of 2,315 middle-aged men, who had been assessed for more than 20 years, concluded that saunas reduced the risk of dying from heart disease by up to 50%, and the risk of a sudden death (defined as within an hour of an acute change in symptoms) by up to 63%. The researchers allowed for factors such as existing heart disease, age (the average was 53), blood pressure, smoking and anything else that might increase risk.

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