Page 4 - Pregnancy

'We can't kill a child,' says SC on termination of 26-week pregnancy

"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

HC allows to end 27-week pregnancy of 12-year-old girl raped by her father

The concerned police station at Dediapada was also directed to take the victim for medical termination of pregnancy at the Vadodara hospital

Glenn Maxwell, wife Vini Raman expecting rainbow baby: All you need to know

A rainbow baby refers to a child expected after the loss of a baby to miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal birth

Covid-19 during pregnancy may increase obesity risk in children: Study

Children born to mothers who contract COVID-19 during pregnancy may be more likely to develop obesity, according to a new study. More than 100 million COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States since 2019, and there is limited information on the long-term health effects of the infection. Pregnant women make up 9 per cent of reproductive-aged women with COVID-19, which exposes millions of babies to maternal infection during foetal development over the next five years. Our findings suggest that children exposed in utero to maternal COVID-19 have an altered growth pattern in early life that may increase their risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease over time, said Lindsay T Fourman, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass. There is still a lot of research needed to understand the effects of COVID-19 on pregnant women and their children, she said. The researchers studied 150 infants born to mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy and found the

99% of women in India unaware of changes in abortion laws: Study

A recent study on the level of awareness of medical termination of pregnancy has claimed that one of every three women it interviewed did not consider abortion as a health right or were unsure of it. The survey by the NGO Foundation for Reproductive Health Services India (FRHS India) also claimed 32 per cent of respondents were unaware of abortion as a legal right and that 95.5 per cent of Indian women were uninformed of the existence of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021. FRHS India, which provides clinical family planning services in the country, recently released the findings of its study on the level of awareness of the MTP Act and practices related to safe abortion. The study was conducted by the FRHS in Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. "The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act was modified 1.5 years ago but abortion-seekers are still unaware of the changes brought about in the Act. We found that even service providers (doctors) in ...

Covid-19 during pregnancy increases serious health risks, shows study

Pregnant women with Covid-19 infection face a seven times increased risk of dying and a significantly elevated risk of being admitted to an ICU or suffering from pneumonia, a new study has shown

Covid-19 linked to increase in US pregnancy-related deaths, says report

COVID-19 drove a dramatic increase in the number of women who died from pregnancy or childbirth complications in the US last year, a crisis that has disproportionately claimed Black and Hispanic women as victims, according to a report. The report released on Wednesday lays out grim trends across the country for expectant mothers and their newborn babies. It finds that pregnancy-related deaths have spiked nearly 80 per cent since 2018, with COVID-19 being a factor in a quarter of the 1,178 deaths reported last year. The percentage of preterm and low birthweight babies also went up last year, after holding steady for years. And more pregnant or postpartum women are reporting symptoms of depression. We were already in the middle of a crisis with maternal mortality in our country, said Karen Tabb Dina, a maternal health researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This really shows that COVID-19 has exacerbated that crisis to rates that we, as a country, are not able t

Apple Watch detects pregnancy before clinical test, says report

According to a 34-year-old woman on Reddit, the watch indicated that her average resting heart rate had significantly increased in just a few days, which made her suspect that something was off

What is the significance of the SC ruling on abortion law?

The Supreme Court of India recently ruled that all women, irrespective of their marital status, are entitled to legal abortion as permitted under Medical Termination of Pregnancy rules. Here's more

Now, all women are entitled to safe and legal abortion: Supreme Court

The court also for the first time recognised marital rape under the MTP Act

All women are entitled to safe and legal abortion, says Supreme Court

The Court ruled that the exclusion of unmarried women who conceive out of live-in relationships from the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Rules is unconstitutional

4 out of 5 pregnancy-related deaths in US are 'preventable': CDC

Four out of five pregnancy-related deaths in the US are preventable, according to a new report published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

WB govt, UNICEF rope in SHGs to stop child marriage, teenage pregnancy

The West Bengal government in collaboration with UNICEF will form child-friendly sanghas' (clusters), comprising members of self-help groups, to curb child marriage and teenage pregnancy in the state, which is the highest in the country. To stop these twin menaces, the state government and UNICEF have planned, as a pilot project, to form 110 child-friendly sanghas' in the next six months in 87 blocks in all 23 districts of the state, a UNICEF release said here. "This initiative is aimed at addressing the issues that affect the lives of SHG members and their family members," Vibhu Goel, State Mission Director and CEO of West Bengal State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM), said at the end of a validation workshop held here on Friday. West Bengal is at the top in cases of child marriage and teenage pregnancy, according to a National Family Health Survey report. As per the data available, after the National Family Health Survey-5 was conducted in 2019-20, a total 41.6 per cent of women a

Control of blood sugar in mothers with diabetes better for infants: Study

Research led by Caroline Crowther of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and a team, the findings were published in the journal PLOS Medicine

Delhi HC denies permission to spinster to terminate pregnancy at 23 weeks

The Delhi High Court has refused to allow an unmarried woman to undergo medical termination of pregnancy at 23 weeks, observing it is not permitted under the abortion law

Roe v Wade rubbed out: US Supreme Court overturns abortion rights landmark

The court, in a 6-3 ruling powered by its conservative majority, upheld a Republican-backed Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks.

Indian Bank makes pregnant women 'temporarily unfit' for joining

This retrograde clause is highly discriminatory to women, the AIDWA said in its statement

US abortions rate increases as 1 in 5 pregnancies terminated in 2020

The number and rate of US abortions increased from 2017 to 2020 after a long decline, data stated

China may turn to forced pregnancy to tackle declining birth rate: Report

As China faces a scenario of negative population growth, the government has started to force its citizens to marry early and have at least three children each.

Fertility rate drops to 2 children; now below replacement level: NFHS

The TFR ranges from 1.1 children per woman in Sikkim to 3 children per woman in Bihar