#maternal-age

#maternal-age

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.

We are now realising we deserve more and for me it's teaching women what to say so they get taken seriously. Women on the whole - I wasn't - aren't very good at standing up for ourselves.

There is a piece of advice given to doctors in moments like this: Check your own pulse. Each person in the room has a role, and we perform it best with steady hands and measured voices.

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.

Economists from King's College London (KCL) and Stanford University in America looked at parents' participation in the workforce in the US between 2023 and 2025, including the proportion who worked from home at least one day per week. They analysed the impact of this compared with those who did not work remotely.

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.

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.

Hysteria was long attributed to a wandering uterus. The earliest text blaming women's reproduction for illness was the Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus, an Egyptian medical scroll from 1900 BC. Women's wombs were blamed for things like choking, cognitive deficits and the inability to speak, and paralysis. Treatments for women were always nonsurgical: swallowing medicine or rubbing it on the body; fumigating the womb with oils or incense.

Babies in the Midlands and North of England are more likely to die before, during or shortly after birth than those in the South, a new study has found. Researchers analysed data from 121 maternity services in England to see which centres repeatedly produced outcomes better or worse than the average between 2013 and 2022. The 10 worst-performing centres were in the Midlands and North of England, and the 15 best-performing in the South.

"I remember sitting in the ultrasound room," Mornhineway, 30, tells TODAY.com. "Our hearts dropped. They said there was nothing to be done. Most people terminate."

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.

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Fear of detention or deportation is leading many immigrants to avoid medical appointments, even when those visits are essential. This chilling effect is particularly acute among pregnant individuals, who may delay or forgo prenatal check‑ups out of concern that seeking care could expose them to immigration enforcement. The result is a growing public health crisis: expectant patients are left without consistent medical oversight, and communities face widening disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes.