Rate of US babies born prematurely has grown 12%, analysis says

Report adds to evidence of a maternal and infant health crisis, which experts expect will be exacerbated by abortion bans

The rate of babies born prematurely in the US grew 12% from 2014 to 2022 to nearly 8.7%, with pronounced racial and age disparities among the mothers, a new analysis from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) found.

Black mothers were almost twice as likely as white mothers to give birth before babies reached full term, 12.5% versus 7.6% respectively. Similarly, women older than 40 had a greater risk of preterm birth compared to women aged 20-29, 12.5% versus 8.23%.

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UK fertility treatment comparison tool featuring IVF data launched

Dashboard allows people to explore data including egg and sperm donors from 1991 onwards

People turning to fertility treatments such as IVF can now access an online tool to compare NHS funding in their area with the rest of the UK.

The dashboard, launched by the regulator Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA), is thought to be a world first, and allows those looking to undergo processes such as IVF and ICSI, as well as researchers, to explore data from 1991 onwards, covering 665,690 patients.

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Babies born in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ weigh less at birth, more likely to be preterm – report

Researchers find that newborns in notorious industrial corridor experience low birth weight at three times the national average

Newborns living in the worst-polluted areas of Louisiana, including an 85-mile industrial corridor known as “Cancer Alley”, experience low birth weights at more than three times the national average, according to data cited in a report released Thursday. The rate of preterm births there is also twice the national average, researchers found.

In parts of Louisiana near fossil fuel and petrochemical plants, low birth weight rates reached 27% and preterm births rates 25%, according to research from Tulane University that was published in a Human Rights Watch report on Thursday. The full paper linking pollution and reproductive health is currently under peer review for publication in the journal Environmental Research: Health.

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Experience: I woke up from a Covid coma with newborn twins

Even when I saw the babies, I thought it was a dream and they weren’t mine

In March 2020, I was healthy and enjoying being 24 weeks pregnant with twins, which had come as a joyful surprise. Then I contracted Covid-19, probably at work. I’m a rheumatology consultant at Birmingham city hospital, and had been risk-assessed to work from home. But I have a duty of care to my patients and went to the hospital for some in-person commitments. Hospitals, including ours, were increasingly overwhelmed by Covid patients.

When I became unwell, paramedics arrived to examine me at home. But I soon deteriorated and my husband, Matthew, drove me to A&E. I was moved rapidly to intensive care, where I was to be intubated. I called Matthew, and we prayed. We’re strong Christians, very close and work as a team. The idea of being apart was daunting. I encouraged him to focus on our older children, Nnamdi Ronald and Chisimdi Claire, who were 12 and 11. Although I was struggling with my breathing, I reassured him I’d be coming round in two to three days. However, this wasn’t to be the case.

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Nearly 65,000 US rape victims could not get an abortion in their state, analysis shows

Researchers estimated likely number of rape-related pregnancies in 14 states with near-total abortion bans since Dobbs ruling

Nearly 65,000 rape-related pregnancies likely occurred in the 14 US states with near-total abortion bans following the US supreme court’s 2022 Dobbs decision – yet just 10 legal abortions are performed monthly on average in these states, researchers found in a new analysis.

The data demonstrates that abortion bans likely make it impossible for most victims of rape to obtain abortions in their home states, even for the minority of people who live in states with exemptions for rape, researchers said.

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‘We suffer in silence’: five women share their miscarriage stories

One in five pregnancies end in miscarriage, yet most people have no idea what happens when a fetus is no longer viable

Up to one in five known pregnancies end in miscarriage, but despite its ubiquity, the details of the experience are rarely discussed.

In September 2023, an Ohio woman who miscarried in the toilet at 22 weeks was turned in to police when she sought medical attention. A grand jury declined to indict Brittany Watts for “abuse of corpse” last week, but the charges sparked outrage on social media, prompting many women around the country to recount their own miscarriage stories.

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What should women do after a miscarriage? The answer is dangerously unclear post-Roe

With near-total bans on abortion in 14 states, the laws on miscarriage are vague – stoking fears of criminal consequences

For a long time after her miscarriage, Rebecca sat on the toilet, trying to figure out what to do.

“I thought about fishing it out of the bloody water,” she said. “I didn’t really want to hold it in my hand. I also didn’t know what I would do with it afterwards. Am I gonna put it in the trash? Am I gonna dig a hole in the backyard? What the hell am I supposed to do? I had no idea.”

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A moment that changed me: My body seemed like a death machine – until I saw those two blue lines

After cancer, chemotherapy and temporary menopause, I didn’t dare imagine having a baby. But all of a sudden my womb was designing a whole new life

The moment you find out you are pregnant is not something you forget. In my case, I had spent years being terrified of the idea. Ovarian cancer had changed my body when I was still young and I was afraid to imagine the future, in case something went wrong. So, when the white strip released two blue lines in 2022, everything changed in an instant. I was filled with amazement at the thought that molecules were forming a new person inside me.

Having lost one ovary and been through temporary menopause caused by cancer medication, I had assumed it was unlikely I would ever be able to have a child. The future I had dared not imagine had reached a tipping point. Would I be able to grow a baby? Was it safe inside me? How would I deal with giving birth? Although the pregnancy was what I wanted, there were so many risks and so few certainties that I didn’t feel immediately overjoyed.

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UK prison where baby died gives women rape alarms to call for help during labour

Campaigners renew calls to end incarceration of pregnant women after introduction of measure at HMP Bronzefield

Pregnant women at a prison in which a teenager gave birth alone in her cell to a baby later found dead have been given rape alarms to carry to summon urgent assistance, the Guardian has learned.

Aisha Cleary died in her mother’s cell at the privately run HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, the biggest women’s prison in Europe, in September 2019.

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‘The left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing’: the barriers to UK maternal mental healthcare

Mental health problems affect up to 20% of new mothers, but provision of mother-and-baby support is patchy

The bed was covered with baby clothes neatly arranged with milestone cards for future events such as “coming home” and “Easter”. They were the outfits for all the special occasions Tara Maguire thought she would miss with her daughter Maisie, then just two weeks old. Downstairs her husband and mother-in-law were waiting to drive her to be admitted as an inpatient at the Bluestone psychiatric unit of Craigavon Area hospital in Northern Ireland. “It was really hard,” recalls Tara, wiping away tears.

Tara had postpartum psychosis, one of the mental health conditions that affect 10-20% of mothers either during pregnancy or the year after – the “perinatal” period. They include depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis. Many factors make women more vulnerable to mental illness during this period, from changes in hormone levels and the brain, physical and psychological stress and traumas during birth, the sheer magnitude of this life event, or a potential genetic vulnerability.

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Pregnant woman’s jail sentence quashed in ‘landmark’ UK ruling

Campaigners hail decision to replace 22-year-old’s prison term for firearm possession with suspended sentence

The court of appeal has quashed the prison sentence of a heavily pregnant woman so that she can give birth safely, in a case hailed as a landmark by campaigners.

The woman, 22, is almost eight months pregnant and has been diagnosed with potentially life threatening pre-eclampsia, which affects the mother’s blood vessels and the baby’s blood supply.

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‘This is personal’: Victoria Atkins sets out women’s health priorities

Health secretary relates her own ‘frightening’ pregnancy experience as she speaks at London summit

The health secretary has described the fear she faced while giving birth as she set out the government’s priorities for women’s health in 2024.

Victoria Atkins said her own “frightening” experience of pregnancy reinforced a commitment to improve maternity services and reduce traumatic birth experiences.

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When my doctor couldn’t save my pregnancy, he did the next best thing | Ranjana Srivastava

In my darkest hour, my obstetrician used his moral compass in a way that has shaped my entire approach to patient care

Nearing the end of his life, a patient tells me, “If you should ever need it, I hope your doctor is as good to you as you have been to me.”

It is an unusual benediction.

Dear Ranjana,

I trust you are coping okay after the very sad events of recent weeks.

It must have been so hard.

After all the initial good news, to walk into our scan room and be hit with all my news must have been unbelievably tough.

Hopefully, we will meet again under more positive circumstances.

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‘The last thing I wanted’: cesarean rates in Puerto Rico soar amid health crisis

More than half of babies born on the island are delivered via surgery, but doctor convenience is only half the story

Nívea Díaz Torres was scared to become a mother in 2016. She was 28 and trying to do everything right during her pregnancy to ensure the healthiest delivery of her baby.

But, despite her desire for a vaginal birth, Díaz Torres felt pushed by her gynecologist to undergo a cesarean delivery.

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Why are so many women dying during pregnancy and what can be done?

Number dying in UK has reached highest level in 20 years but alarming trend going unaddressed worldwide

The number of women dying during pregnancy or soon after childbirth has reached its highest level in almost 20 years, according to new data. Experts have described the figures as “very worrying”.

How many women are dying?

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Number of women in UK who die during pregnancy rises sharply

Separate study finds women who are depressed in pregnancy more likely to die prematurely

The number of women who have died during pregnancy or soon after has risen sharply to its highest levels for 20 years, prompting concern from experts.

The maternal death rate increased to 13.41 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies between 2020 and 2022, according to figures published by the MBRRACE-UK investigation into maternal deaths in the UK. The figure was 8.79 in the period 2017 to 2019.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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‘Real taboo’: include birth trauma in UK women’s health strategy, MP urges

Theo Clarke shares own experience and says large number of people contacted inquiry into birth trauma after call for evidence

Birth trauma remains a “real taboo” and should be part of the UK government’s women’s health strategy, an MP leading an inquiry into the subject has said.

On Tuesday, the all-party parliamentary group on birth trauma launched an inquiry, led by the Conservative MP Theo Clarke and Labour’s Rosie Duffield, looking into the causes behind traumatic births and to develop policy recommendations to reduce the occurence of birth-related trauma. The inquiry is open to parents and professionals in the maternity field, and is expected to report on its findings in April.

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Two single friends, one radical plan: why I’m having a child with my gay best mate

Tom and I thought we’d missed out on having a family - until a drunken conversation turned serious …

I held my breath as the sonographer pressed the probe into my belly. I could see something ­promising on the screen but needed to hear the expert say it before I could believe it. “There’s the heartbeat,” she said, and relief flooded through me. Next to me Tom, the baby’s father, squeezed my hand as tears rolled down my cheek.

We probably looked like any other happy ­couple the sonographer saw that day, about to embark on ­parenthood for the first time. But Tom isn’t my ­partner; he’s my best friend. We’re both single, he’s gay and soon we’re going to be platonically co-parenting that little bean on the screen together after years of separately experiencing the pain and longing of childlessness.

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Western Australian woman, 62, permitted to have sperm removed from her dead husband

Supreme court grants woman’s urgent application, but a new order will be required to use sperm for fertilisation

A 62-year-old woman has been given permission by the Western Australian supreme court to remove sperm from her dead husband for possible use in posthumous fertilisation.

The woman made an urgent court application after the death of her 61-year-old husband late last year.

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