Category: Pregnancy

Deadly High Blood Pressure During Pregnancy Is on the Rise

More pregnant women are being diagnosed with dangerously high blood pressure, which risks the life of the parent and child. Montana is one of the states improving screening and treatment as health facilities work to match care with best practices.

She Was Accused of Murder After Losing Her Pregnancy. SC Woman Now Tells Her Story.

Amari Marsh, now 23, was a student at South Carolina State University when she lost her pregnancy in 2023. She was charged with murder and faced at least 20 years in prison. A grand jury cleared her in August. Now she’s sharing her story.

UCSF Favors Pricey Doctoral Program for Nurse-Midwives Amid Maternal Care Crisis

UC-San Francisco is pausing its long-running master’s program in nurse-midwifery and plans to shift to a lengthier, costlier doctoral program. Midwives criticized the move and questioned the university’s motivations at a time of serious shortages of maternal care workers.

Her Life Was at Risk. She Needed an Abortion. Insurance Refused To Pay.

Insurance coverage for abortion care in the U.S. is a hodgepodge. Patients often don’t know when or if a procedure or abortion pills are covered, and the proliferation of abortion bans has exacerbated the confusion.

Inside Project 2025: Former Trump Official Outlines Hard Right Turn Against Abortion

Former President Donald Trump has distanced himself from a Heritage Foundation document that outlines positions on abortion and a range of other social issues. But Democrats view it as a window into the far right’s to-do list and a clear opening for political attack.

Maternity Care in Rural Areas Is in Crisis. Can More Doulas Help?

Rural communities are losing access to maternity care, raising the risk of pregnancy complications, especially for Black women, who face higher rates of maternal mortality. Now, a Georgia medical school is trying to help by training doulas, practitioners who offer patients extra support before, during, and after childbirth.

Before Michigan Legalized Surrogacy, Families Found Ways Around the Ban

Until this spring, Michigan was the only state that had a broad criminal ban on surrogacy. Many families say that left them in limbo: forcing them to leave the state to have children, finding strangers on Facebook who would carry their child, or going through the legal hassle of having to adopt their biological children.

Planned Parenthood to Blitz GOP Seats, Betting Abortion Fears Can Sway Voters

The reproductive rights organization hopes to oust GOP incumbents from key California congressional seats by highlighting the possibility of a national abortion ban. A state Republican official calls it a swing and a miss, noting that, under Democrats, hospitals have closed maternity wards and filed for bankruptcy.

Republicans Are Downplaying Abortion, but It Keeps Coming Up

Torn between a base that wants more restrictions on reproductive health care and a moderate majority that does not, it seems many Republicans would rather take an off-ramp than a victory lap when it comes to abortion. But they can’t escape talking about it.

Rate of Young Women Getting Sterilized Doubled After ‘Roe’ Was Overturned

A recent study found that the rate of women 18 to 30 getting tubal ligations doubled in the 16 months following the Dobbs decision. The number of young men getting vasectomies also shot up, but men still get sterilized much less often than women.