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Light smoking is also tied to poor birth outcomes, even if the mother quits during pregnancy. Smoking even one or two cigarettes a day before or during pregnancy can lead to serious health problems for newborns, according to a new analysis of more than 12 million families. Globally, an estimated 1.7 per cent of pregnant women smoke, though that rate is 8.1 per cent in Europe and 5.9 per cent in the Americas. Smoking during pregnancy can negatively affect the newborn’s health, increasing their risk of preterm birth, low birth weight, restricted infant growth, and death. In the study, which...

Chemicals commonly found in sunscreen, makeup and other personal care products could be putting pregnancies at risk, a new study warns. Phenols and parabens in these products increase a pregnant woman's risk of high blood pressure by 57%, particularly at 24 to 28 weeks of gestation, researchers reported. Phenols and parabens are used as UV filters in sunscreens, and to prevent the growth of harmful mold and bacteria in makeup and cosmetics, researchers said. Parabens alone are used in about 80% of personal care products, the research team said in background notes. For the study, researchers tracked the health of...

People with higher intakes of calcium and zinc before pregnancy appear to have a significantly lower risk for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), according to research. Liping Lu, M.D., Ph.D. and colleagues used data from 7,737 pregnant women without chronic hypertension participating in the Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: Monitoring Mothers-To-Be to assess the association between preconceptional calcium intake (three months before pregnancy) and odds of HDP. There was a modest inverse association between energy density-adjusted calcium intake and HDP when adjusting for sociodemographic, lifestyle, clinical, and other dietary factors. The odds of HDP were 21 percent lower for participants in...

Last night at the ESPY Awards, tennis star Serena Williams took a pointed jab at Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker. After her sister and fellow tennis star Venus Williams said, “Go ahead and enjoy women’s sports like you would any other sports, because they are sports,” Serena Williams chimed in, “Except you, Harrison Butker. We don’t need you.” Butker attended the awards, which are hosted by ESPN. After Serena Williams’ comment, “Elementary” star Quinta Brunson added, “At all. Like, ever.” But while Butker’s remarks about the value of women who choose to be homemakers stirred plenty of controversy in...

Florida will soon launch new pregnancy and parenting website, thanks to the passage of HB-415, which took effect July 1. The website will be run by the Florida Department of Health, in collaboration with the Department of Children and Families and the Agency for Health Care Administration. It will include educational materials on pregnancy and parenting, mentorship programs for fathers, adoption services, and financial assistance, along with other information. Included within the legislation was $466,000 for a third party to develop the website. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Berny Jacques, passed in May mostly along party lines, as many...

Are ectopic pregnancies increasing? A notable increase in the number of women seeking emergency care for ectopic pregnancies is causing obstetricians and emergency room physicians to take notice. A recent large-scale study of nearly one million pregnancies over a decade found “significant increase” in ectopic pregnancies. The study confirmed ectopic pregnancy remains one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in the United States. In addition to highest trends for younger women, the incidence was particularly higher for mothers over 40 years in age and non-Hispanic Black women. * 2006–2010: The rate of ectopic pregnancy diagnoses per 1,000 pregnancies increased...

People with higher intakes of calcium and zinc in the three months before they conceived were significantly less likely to suffer hypertensive disorders during their pregnancy compared with those who had lower intakes of these essential minerals, according to new research. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is one of the most common disorders of pregnancy and can harm both the pregnant person and the developing fetus. Considering the potential adverse effects of antihypertensive medications during pregnancy, researchers have focused on opportunities to prevent dangerous hypertension-related disorders such as pre-eclampsia through modifiable factors like nutrition. The researchers conducted two separate studies...

New York Attorney General Letitia James has already lost the first battle in corut after she tried to shut down pro-life pregnancy centers. The New York attorney general is facing multiple lawsuits for using her power to censor pro-life pregnancy centers because they tell women about the option of using progesterone for abortion pill reversal. Progesterone is a safe and naturally occurring hormone that can be used to counteract the life-ending effects of abortion drugs. James recently sued 11 faith-based pro-life pregnancy centers and a network of affiliated centers in the state, alleging—despite evidence to the contrary—that the centers are...

U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama introduced a bill today that would require child support throughout pregnancy and create a clearinghouse of adoption and anti-abortion pregnancy crisis centers to combat decreasing birth rates. Britt introduced the More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed Act (MOMS Act) alongside co-sponsors Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.). Britt said the bill is an effort to strengthen support for pregnant women and new moms. “This legislation is further evidence that you can absolutely be pro-life, pro-woman, and pro-family at the same time,” Britt said. “The MOMS Act advances a comprehensive culture of...

Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom released an ad on Sunday showing Alabama police forcing young women to undergo pregnancy tests. “Alabama’s abortion ban has no exceptions for rape or incest. Now, Republicans are trying to criminalize young women’s travel to receive abortion care. We cannot let them get away with this,” Newsom said on X as he shared the video.

The market for oral contraception is being turned upside-down as Perrigo has begun shipping Opill to thousands of retail stores nationwide, to be sold as the first over-the-counter birth control pill in the U.S. The FDA approved Opill July 2023 as an OTC birth control option. Perrigo did not publicly release sales projections for the product, and The Motley Fool reported last July that the company is “quite unlikely” to generate $110 million per quarter—the value needed to “make a significant dent” in overall company revenues. The current U.S. prescription birth control pill market is likely worth about $3 billion...

A pregnant Walgreens employee wasn’t allowed to leave work to see her doctor when she began spotting blood, according to a newly settled federal lawsuit. Her manager refused to let her go until someone could fill in for her — but then said “she could not find a replacement for her” at the store in Alexandria, Louisiana, the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says. Now, Walgreens has agreed to pay $205,000 to settle the lawsuit accusing the company of pregnancy and disability discrimination, the EEOC said in a March 15 news release. The company is required...

The Biden administration is preparing to run the 2024 election on abortion. With a miserable economy and failure on every side, that is the one thing still left for the Democrats to run on. But no generation has ever had less use for abortion than this one. After the end of Roe v. Wade, Democrats warned of a decline in abortions, what they failed to mention was that abortions had been declining long before the Supreme Court decision. After Roe v. Wade first came on the scene, abortions shot up all through the 80s and hit a peak in 1990...

A new report suggests vaccine mRNA does not remain at the injection site following vaccination but can “spread systemically” to the placenta and umbilical cord blood of infants whose mothers are vaccinated during pregnancy.(KwangSoo Kim/Shutterstock)In a peer-reviewed pre-proof accepted for publication in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, researchers presented two cases that demonstrate, for the first time, the ability of COVID-19 vaccines to penetrate the fetal-placental barrier and reach the inside of the uterus. Additionally, researchers detected spike protein in placental tissue, indicating the bioactivity of the mRNA in reaching the placenta.Researchers vaccinated two pregnant women with mRNA...

Can Men Actually Experience Pregnancy Symptoms? Since men can’t become pregnant, it’s natural to wonder whether men can actually have pregnancy symptoms, such as morning sickness, and if so, why do men get pregnancy symptoms?

A federal judge called a recent Illinois law “stupid” that targets maternal health care centers and sidewalk counselors for expressing their pro-life message after he blocked enforcement of the statute. Judge Iain D. Johnston of the Western Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois made the characterization in a formal preliminary injunction order (pdf) dated Aug. 4, the day after he orally issued his ruling from the bench finding the law was unconstitutional. The lawsuit, filed July 27, is National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NILFA) v. Raoul. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, a...

Donning a T-shirt with the message “Say NO to child support #ProChoiceMen,” pro-life advocate AJ Hurley trolled the Women’s March on Saturday in Washington, D.C. to expose abortion activists’ hypocrisy. Hurley posed as a male abortion activist at the march, using a megaphone to shout phrases like “Your body, your problem!” and “Keep your womb off my wallet” at the crowd. His stunt was part of Live Action’s new satirical video series #ProChoiceMen. The Women’s March supposedly focuses on rights and protections for women, but Hurley’s protest exposed how its support for abortion does the opposite. According to Live Action,...

A British mom of three was sentenced to more than two years in prison for aborting a baby while about eight months pregnant. Carla Foster, 44, was terrified her estranged partner would find out she became pregnant while seeing two other men in late 2019, according to a court report by StokeOnTrentLive. She repeatedly lied to get abortion pills that were only available online due to loosened restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court was told.

The California legislature is considering a bill redefining “infertility” to include male homosexual partners.The bill, an amendment to the state’s health insurance called SB 729, redefines infertility as “a person’s inability to reproduce either as an individual or with their partner without medical intervention.” The proposed law changes infertility from a medical condition that can be treated to a status that would encompass everyone but particularly the alphabet people.Freshman state senator Caroline Menjivar (D.), who coauthored the bill with Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (D.), said: “It will ensure that queer couples no longer have to pay more out of pocket to...

Just over a month after Tori Bowie, the champion American sprinter who won three medals at the 2016 Olympic Games, was found dead in her Florida home at age 32, a medical examiner reportedly found that she died from complications of childbirth. Bowie’s autopsy, performed by the Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office of Florida, revealed that she was “undergoing labor” when she died, according to a copy of the report obtained by TMZ Sports. The athlete was roughly eight months pregnant, and was carrying a “well developed fetus,” according to USA Today Sports, which also reviewed the report. Her death...