Pregnancies

Science trumped politics, but politics may still present problems for teens trying to purchase emergency contraception. “A lot of stuff is going to happen over the next 30 days,” said Dr. Cora Breuner, a pediatric medicine specialist at the University of Washington. Breuner was reacting to a judge's decision Friday to overturn age restrictions on access to emergency contraception. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman called those restrictions by the Food and Drug Administration “politically motivated and scientifically unjustified.” He ruled that levonorgestrel-based contraceptives such as Plan B One-Step and Next Choice should be available over the counter to all customers within 30 days.

My sisters and I spent the majority of our adolescence as foster kids in Los Angeles County. We entered the system after my parents divorced. My mom, who was both poor and mentally ill, wasn't equipped to be a single parent to six young children. No one told us about the bad odds we faced. Teenage girls living in foster care are 21/2 times more likely than other girls to become pregnant by age 19. Information about sexual development, reproductive health and pregnancy prevention is not readily available, in part because none of the many individuals who interact with youths in foster care has specific responsibility for providing such education.

The rate of abortions in the United States fell by 5%, the largest single-year decrease in a decade, researchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. The decline is outlined in the annual abortion surveillance data for the year 2009, the latest available. It was published on Wednesday in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. About 18% of all pregnancies in the United States end in abortion, the CDC noted. Factors from the availability of abortion providers, state laws, the general economy and access to health services including contraception, can all influence the abortion rate, according to the CDC. An important way to reduce abortions is to eliminate unwanted pregnancies.

Pregnant women who took the anti-seizure drug valproate during pregnancy increased the odds that their baby would have autism, and were roughly twice as likely to give birth to a child who would go on to be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, according to a large study that captured 10 years of births in Denmark. Valproate, often known by its commercial name Depakote, is widely prescribed in the treatment of epilepsy and a wide range of psychiatric conditions. It is one of a class of drugs that has been linked to a child's delayed cognitive development and to some congenital malformations.

The numbers of abortion s performed annually worldwide has held steady in recent years, but the proportion of abortions that are considered unsafe is rising, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization. The study also found that about one in five pregnancies were terminated in 2008 and that “restrictive abortion laws” do not seem to deter women from seeking the procedure. One of the primary motivations for the study was to determine whether the number of unsafe abortions was increasing or decreasing, because these abortions are a major contributor to morbidity and mortality among women of childbearing age (between the ages of 15 and 44)

We're careful about what we call an accident in my house. When my son breaks a windowpane playing soccer in the living room, it's no accident. When my daughter destroys the finish on the coffee table removing polish from her nails, again, no accident. Most people throw the term "accident" around more loosely, however. They use it to describe everything from spilled milk to car crashes ? including unintended pregnancies. More than one-third of all pregnancies in the United States are mistimed or unwanted, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 40% of births in Los Angeles County each year are the result of unplanned pregnancies, which can endanger the health of babies, according to a study released by the county's Department of Public Health. The figure is based primarily on a county survey completed in 2006 of more than 5,200 women ages 13 to 56 who had recently given birth. The percentage of unplanned pregnancies was about the same among women who gave birth and those who experienced stillbirths and miscarriages, according to Dr. Susie Baldwin, chief of the department's health assessment unit, which produced the study.

China reported today that about a third of all pregnancies in the nation in 1984 were aborted. Health Ministry officials told a press briefing that out of 27 million pregnancies, 18 million resulted in live births in China last year, while 8.89 million were aborted. The officials strongly denied that authorities forced abortions as part of efforts to restrict population growth. In August, the U.S. Congress blocked funds intended for a U.N.

Two checks totaling $24,000 were handed over Friday to begin the Coalition Concerned With Adolescent Pregnancy's first corporate-supported program to prevent unplanned teen-age pregnancies in Orange County. The checks were presented by Jeff Sherman, president of Armor All Products, who was representing the McKesson Foundation, and Tony Zarifis and Daryl Carlson, store directors for Mervyn's Department Stores.

It was with great expectations that Barbara Johnson tossed out the last of her birth-control pills. She and her husband happily began planning for the baby's arrival nine months hence. After all, they had read that half of all American pregnancies are unwanted "accidents." How simple it should be for those who want a child? Convinced that conception would follow almost instantaneously the act of unprotected sex, the couple made no other adjustments. They made love on the weekends.

Jenna Dewan-Tatum, wife of Channing Tatum, is baring her baby bump, and the woman makes pregnancy look good . She and Tatum, People's Sexiest Man Alive of 2012, met in 2006. They were struggling actors appearing in the dance flick "Step Up. " Tatum, who started his career as an exotic dancer, went on to step up his own career and happened to get a little beefcake movie called "Magic Mike" made about his life. PHOTOS: Hollywood baby boom The couple, both 32, got hitched in March 2009 and announced the baby news in December.

Halle Berry is touting her new pregnancy and motherhood as she prepares to launch a philanthropic campaign with designer Michael Kors. The duo has paired up to launch Watch Hunger Stop, which will provide meals to children in Africa, Syria and maybe Central America. They plan to raise money via the sale of Kors' ubiquitous $295 Runway watch, according to the Associated Press. For each watch sold, 100 meals will be provided to children as part of the U.N. World Food Programme.

Science trumped politics, but politics may still present problems for teens trying to purchase emergency contraception. “A lot of stuff is going to happen over the next 30 days,” said Dr. Cora Breuner, a pediatric medicine specialist at the University of Washington. Breuner was reacting to a judge's decision Friday to overturn age restrictions on access to emergency contraception. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman called those restrictions by the Food and Drug Administration “politically motivated and scientifically unjustified.” He ruled that levonorgestrel-based contraceptives such as Plan B One-Step and Next Choice should be available over the counter to all customers within 30 days.

Lindsay Lohan said Tuesday on Twitter that a tweet she sent out Monday about her being pregnant was an April Fools' joke. Lohan is expected to return to the United States from Brazil to begin a 90-day sentence in a rehab facility as part of a plea bargain she struck after being charged with lying to police about a Santa Monica car crash. Lohan has until May 2 to prove to the Los Angeles County Superior Court that she has enrolled in rehab. She has said she'd like to do the rehab in New York.

Repeat births among teens have fallen, but nearly one in five children born to teen mothers already has a sibling, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Of more than 367,000 births to mothers 15 to 19 years old in 2010, 18.3% were repeat births, a decrease of 6.2% from 2007, the CDC reported. Large disparities among racial and ethnic groups and geographic areas remain, the centers reported. American Indian or Alaska native teens registered the highest percentages, 21.6%, followed by Hispanics, 20.9%, and non-Hispanic blacks, 20.4%.

Kim Kardashian has been finding her way when it comes to maternity style, telling People, “Either you go tight and you really show it off, or there's the muumuu style that's perfect for tall, skinny model types.” Since she is not the latter, she has tended to opt for tight, and one of her favorite looks is leather leggings with some kind of top, as, for instance, the feathery pouf she wore to the Topshop Topman opening party in L.A. last month....

It was supposed to make every child a wanted child, give women control over their bodies and grant couples worry-free sex. Such were the aspirations of health professionals worldwide when the medication now known simply as "the pill" arrived on the market 50 years ago. It was the first birth-control method that did not require use in the heat of the moment, the first that could be used by a woman without her partner's knowledge or cooperation....

Think back on what you talked about with friends and family at your last gathering. The latest game of your favorite team? "American Idol"? An addictive hobby? The new movie blockbuster? In a serious moment, maybe job prospects, Afghanistan, the economic mess? We live in an information-drenched environment, one in which sports and favorite programs are just a click away. And the ease with which we can do this allows us to focus on mostly comforting subjects that divert our attention from increasingly real, long-term problems.

Snooki and fiance Jionni LaValle baptized their son on Palm Sunday and her partner in crime JWoww served as the little guy's godmother.  "Lorenzo is finally baptized! He did so good #proudparents," she tweeted Sunday. Snooki, 25, whose real name is Nicole Polizzi, posted several pics of the fete on Instagram over the weekend. The "Snooki & JWoww" star and "proud mommy" was beyond eager to share her little guy's christening celebration "Proud parents today," the petite reality star posted with a pic of herself and LaValle dressed in their Sunday best.

Births to women ages 15-19 and 20-24 in the U.S. declined to "historic lows" in 2011, declining to 31.3 births per 1,000 women, said researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's National Center for Health Statistics. Writing in the journal Pediatrics on Monday, Brady E. Hamilton and colleagues summarized vital statistics from birth certificates and death records in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.  Overall, there were 3,953,593 births in the U.S. in 2011, 1% fewer than in 2010.