For over a month, my office has been going back and forth with ICE officials about Andrea's condition. We have been ignored, put off, and frankly, lied to about the treatment she has received while in detention.
I wanted to create a space where practicing specialists in obstetrics and gynecology could literally drive ourselves to a community that needed practitioners, pop open and see folks the way that we see them in our offices.
The heel prick test will now be accompanied by testing for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a rare muscle-wasting condition that can potentially lead to a child's death by the age of two.
The latest study published in March by the Centre for Economic Performance indicates that although the career trajectories of men and women are similar before becoming parents, their paths diverge starkly after the birth of their first child.
Sofii Lewis described her experience, stating, "I knew I wasn't safe. But I didn't think I was out of control." This highlights the confusion many face with postpartum psychosis.
Since 1985, every time the U.S. elects a Republican president, global maternal mortality increases by about 10.5%, or about 44.7 additional deaths per 100,000 live births. This erodes roughly one-fifth of the average worldwide decline in maternal mortality achieved since 1985.
The human maternal-fetal interface (MFI) is a transient hemi-allogeneic amalgam in which maternal decidual stromal cells (DSCs) support placental attachment, recruit immune cells and create a tolerogenic milieu for patterning fetal cytotrophoblast invasion.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act protects pregnant employees from workplace discrimination based on your pregnancy. Additionally, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires your employer to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related conditions. For maternity leave, the Family and Medical Leave Act (federal law) entitles eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave following childbirth if you've worked at your company for at least a year.
Pregnancy is the only condition where Florida courts have ruled that a patient can be forced to undergo unwanted treatment. Even a state prisoner on a hunger strike has more rights to make medical decisions.
While noting women 'were treated with kindness and compassion', a 'requires improvement' rating was given. Inspectors said hospital management 'did not always support staff well-being' and 'were not always visible within the service and were sometimes perceived as unsupportive'. Staff reported they were confident to report incidents, however, were not always assured action would be taken.
I attended A&E multiple times complaining of pain, tachycardia (increased heart rate), sickness - I couldn't keep anything down... but they didn't listen. Angel-Kay Mason fell pregnant with her daughter in June 2022 aged 19. Due to a family history of complex pregnancies, she says she was deemed to be high-risk but says she was not referred to a consultant and did not receive any extra scans.
The soft, flexible, robotic probe could dramatically improve safety during fetal surgeries, procedures in which physicians operate on a fetus before birth. Currently, doctors primarily rely on intermittent measurements of fetal heart rate using ultrasound imaging from outside the pregnant person's body. The new device, on the other hand, can be gently inserted through the same narrow port already used in fetal surgeries.
We'd been working together for years to make my medication regimen-treatment for schizoaffective disorder-safe for potential pregnancy. Under her care, I was tapering off an antidepressant known to cause respiratory distress and hypertension in a newborn. I'd been experiencing wild mood swings, even suicidal thoughts. My beloved doctor's eyes were sad. "I'm saying no to a pregnancy, Meg." Even in the moment, I understood her priority as a physician was to keep me safe. Still, part of me hated her.
Anna af Ugglas, chief executive of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and one of the study's authors, said: Nearly 1 million missing midwives means health systems are stretched beyond capacity, midwives are overworked and underpaid, and care becomes rushed and fragmented. Intervention rates rise, and women are more likely to experience poor-quality care or mistreatment, she said. This is not only a workforce issue, it is a quality and safety issue for women and babies.
When I first found out I was pregnant, I did what most moms do-I started researching. I wanted to make the best possible choices for my baby and myself, and giving birth in a hospital just didn't feel like the safest option. So many women do it, but the more I learned, the more I realized that the reality of hospital birth in the U.S. is even less reassuring than I had thought. I wanted to birth at home.
Then, in November 2025, our international shame. The Pan American Health Organization revoked Canada's measles elimination status, following more than a year of sustained transmission of the same strain. We'd eliminated the virus in 1998 and held onto the status for twenty-seven years owing to a safe and effective vaccine, but as vaccine hesitancy grew and vaccination rates dropped, susceptibility to this once-vanquished disease skyrocketed.
