The recall of hired home-birthing pools after a baby contracted Legionnaires’ disease will inevitably lead some women to worry about having a water birth at home. While the incidence is rare, it is worth…
Performing surgery on foetuses while still in the womb is a risky business. Although pioneering work in this field began in the 1980s, it remains very challenging, with only a few highly trained teams…
As technology advances so does our ability to monitor unborn babies. Now it’s even possible to track how a very young fetus, still in its mother’s womb, learns and remembers basic speech. As a labour and…
Women are twice as likely than men to contract HIV during intercourse and according to the authors of a new US study, women who contract HIV while pregnant may be especially vulnerable and more likely…
In the much-loved British TV drama Call the Midwife, women are offered care from dedicated midwives through pregnancy, labour and birth. The midwives are therefore able to get to know the women and practice…
The warning made by HRA Pharma, the French manufacturer behind Norvelo emergency contraceptive pills, that the product is ineffective in women who weigh more than 80kg (12st 7lb) and has reduced effectiveness…
A bill currently before the NSW Parliament attempts to criminalise harm to late-term foetuses that die due to injuries inflicted on their mother. But is foetal legal personhood the best way to recognise…
For singles and couples who can’t naturally conceive and carry a baby to term, surrogacy is sometimes considered an option to have a child. Current laws across Australia permit “altruistic” surrogacy which…
It’s Nobel season and who could forget IVF pioneer Sir Robert Edwards who won the accolade for medicine in 2010? More than ever before, reproductive medicine is throwing up new treatments and answers to…