She lost her child in a home birth. Prosecutors charged her with murder

The medical examiner ruled the death of Kelsey Carpenter’s baby an accident – yet she faces life in prison: ‘I mourn every day’

Kelsey Carpenter was alone in her San Diego apartment when she went into labor on 14 November 2020.

The mother of two had planned a home birth for her third child. But the baby came two weeks earlier than expected, so she delivered on her own, then passed out, records show. When she awoke, her newborn - whom she named Kiera - was not breathing. Despite her attempts at CPR, the baby did not survive.

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A child’s best interests, not the desires of adults, should be at the heart of surrogacy | Sonia Sodha

The Law Commission has gone too far in its proposed guidelines for surrogate parents

Infertility can be deeply painful. There is a lot a compassionate society can – and should – do to make fertility treatment available to those who can be assisted to have a child with medical intervention. Few would disagree though that there are ethical boundaries to this, shaped by children’s interests, not just adult desires.

Last week, the Law Commission drove a coach and horses through that moral frontier – which it framed as an overdue modernisation of the law – by publishing draft proposals to reform the UK’s surrogacy framework. Implicit in them is the, I suspect controversial, assumption that a single man seeking to have a child alone through surrogacy, because he doesn’t want or can’t maintain a committed relationship, presents no greater moral quandary than a couple seeking IVF. How controversial is anyone’s guess: the Law Commission hasn’t canvassed public attitudes.

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As a surrogate, I’ve seen at first hand why Britain’s outdated law needs to change | Kim Barrett

Politicians must accept the new Law Commission report, which recommends that those who are going to raise a child be its parents from birth

Last year, I carried a child as a surrogate for a couple I met through a surrogacy organisation. It was a wonderful experience that I am proud and honoured to have gone through, but current laws around surrogacy made it much more complicated than any of us wanted it to be.

I had a beautiful home birth, which both parents attended. The baby’s mother had the first skin-to-skin contact with her new daughter, then the family bonded together for a few hours before they introduced the baby to me. We all spent the rest of the day together and I got my first cuddle, then the baby went home to live with her parents.

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Mothers and babies being put at risk due to unsafe NHS maternity services, expert warns

NHS ombudsman says more tragedies will occur unless decisive action in taken

Mothers and babies are being put at risk because maternity services are still providing unsafe care, despite a series of scandals that have cost lives, the NHS ombudsman has warned.

More tragedies will occur unless the health service takes decisive action to put an end to repeated and deeply ingrained problems which lead to “the same mistakes over and over again”, he said.

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The links between pollution and miscarriage: ‘This is the stuff nightmares are made of’

Journalist Isabelle Oderberg has spent years researching the links between pollution and early pregnancy loss. What she has learned keeps her up at night

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Exactly 10 years ago this year, I sat in a Melbourne auditorium, listening to a lecture about conspiracy theories. One of the key points made by the speaker was that many of the great revelations in our world were once conspiracy theories confined to the fringes of society; think round earthers v flat earthers.

That’s not to say that every conspiracy theory will be proven true. Clearly not. I don’t for a moment believe Elvis is working in a 7-Eleven in Tucson, Arizona.

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Winning the lottery sends women rushing off to the divorce court. Men stay married | Torsten Bell

Small grants give expectant families a boost, but the impact of larger sums depends a lot on the recipient’s gender

We think of our family as outside the financial world. But two new studies show that it’s not so simple.

The state provides support for those of us lucky/silly enough to have children. Child benefit starts from birth, but you’ll probably know this phase called pregnancy exists.

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US mothers face uncertainty as lone, unproven drug for preterm birth pulled

FDA granted accelerated approval for Makena in 2011 to address issue of preemies, but major study says drug doesn’t work

Makena is the only drug approved specifically to prevent premature birth, a major health issue facing children and families, in the US. In the 12 years since it was fast-tracked by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), hundreds of thousands of patients in America have received injections of Makena, which is about 5,200% more expensive than generic versions of the same medication.

There was just one problem: there’s no evidence Makena actually works.

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