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Having a planned caesarean section during delivery could be related to an increased risk of leukaemia -- a blood cancer -- later in the child's life, compared with an emergency C-section, a study has found. A C-section delivery of a child involves making a surgical cut in the mother's abdomen and uterus. The need for delivering via a C-section can be planned or arise as an emergency during labour. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet said that exposure of a baby to vaginal bacteria in an emergency C-section -- which usually begins as a vaginal delivery -- could be why planned C-sections carry an increased risk of certain diseases, compared to emergency ones. "We don't want mothers to feel anxious about medically indicated C-sections. But when this result is combined with other study results showing that the risk of later asthma, allergies, or type 1 diabetes increases in children born by planned C-section, there is reason to discuss C-sections that are not medically indicated," lead
China has announced a slew of policies, including a childbirth subsidy system and tax cuts for parents, aimed at motivating couples to have more children to halt the falling birth-rates in order to deal with the looming demographic crisis. A directive issued by the State Council or the central cabinet on Monday outlined 13 targeted measures designed to enhance childbirth support services; expand childcare systems; strengthen support in education, housing and employment, and cultivate a birth-friendly social atmosphere. The falling birth rates resulted in China losing the most populous nation in the world to India last year. The latest initiative also includes improvements to the childbirth subsidy system and personal income tax relief related to childbirth, official media reported. Key provisions include extending the maternity insurance scheme to individuals in flexible employment and rural migrant workers who have already participated in the basic medical insurance scheme. This
"We cannot kill a child," the Supreme Court observed on Thursday while hearing the Centre's plea seeking recall of its order allowing a married woman, a mother of two, to terminate her 26-week pregnancy. While making it clear that the top court has to balance the rights of the unborn child, a "living and viable foetus", with its mother's right of decisional autonomy, a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud asked the Centre and her lawyer to talk to the woman about the possibility of retaining the pregnancy for a few weeks more. "Do you want us to tell the doctors at AIIMS to stop the fetal heart?" the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, asked the counsel appearing for the 27-year-old woman. When the counsel responded with a "no", the bench said when the woman has waited for over 24 weeks, can't she retain the foetus for some more weeks so there is the possibility of a healthy child being born. The bench has posted the matter for resumed hearing at
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a batch of pleas, including one seeking steps for enforcing a two-child norm to control the rising population, saying it is for the government to look at the issue. Citing media reports about India's population stabilising despite the rise in births, the apex court said it is not an issue where the court should interfere. "Population is not something that one fine day it stops," a bench of Justices S K Kaul and A S Oka observed orally. Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, one of the petitioners, said a report from the Law Commission on the issue is very important. Upadhyay had filed a petition in the top court challenging an order of the Delhi High Court dismissing a plea seeking certain steps, including a two-child norm, to control the rising population. After the apex court said it was not inclined to entertain the plea, he withdrew it. Besides his plea, the bench also refused to entertain some other petitions filed on the issue, ...