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Two North Carolina doctors have been reprimanded for performing a caesarian on a woman, only to discover she wasn't pregnant at all. The incident -- a rare case of pseudocyesis or a false or hysterical pregnancy -- happened at the Cape Fear Medical Center in Fayetteville, N.C. The woman reportedly appeared at the hospital with her husband asking for a C-section. A resident in charge made the pregnancy diagnosis and doctors agreed to surgery after trying to induce labor for two days.

The organization NARAL Pro Choice America blasted Virginia’s Governor Tim Kaine — the chairman of the Democratic National Committee — on Tuesday for signing a bill that, NARAL says, includes state funding for crisis pregnancy centers. Essentially, if someone buys a “Choose Life” license plate, some of the proceeds would go to crisis centers. NARAL claims that crisis pregnancy centers — which exist to dissuade women from having an abortion — mislead woman. In New York, abortion rights groups lobbied Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to shut down such centers because they allegedly “scared” women. As a life-long feminist, I find...

Mother's rows in pregnancy 'affects IQ of baby' By Nic Fleming, Medical Correspondent Last Updated: 2:05am GMT 27/01/2007 Children born to mothers who had relationship problems during their pregnancies have lower than average intelligence and are more prone to anxiety, scientists say. Women who reported high stress levels in the months before giving birth had babies who scored lower in mental development tests than those whose mothers had calmer pregnancies. Researchers found that stress caused by rows with or violence by a partner to be particularly harmful. They believe high levels of the stress hormone cortisol can affect unborn babies...

Rampant spread of sexual disease By Nilufer Atik, Evening Standard A 16-year-old girl has been pregnant 10 times since the age of 12, research has revealed. The girl, who has two young children, is understood to have undergone three abortions and suffered five miscarriages in the last four years. It is not known whether all 10 pregnancies were by the same man or a string of partners. Her story came to light when researchers looked into the worrying spread of sexually transmitted diseases among underage girls attending a sexual health clinic in south London. A doctor made the discovery...