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Pro-choice activists rallying in Westminster fear government plan will hand abortion counselling to religious groups

Proposals to strip abortion providers of their counselling role could result in women being advised at centres run by religious groups who would actively deter them from choosing abortion as an option, a rally outside parliament was told on Saturday.

The rally was organised by pro-choice groups in the wake of a resurgent campaign by anti-abortion groups to tighten Britain’s abortion laws, as well as a government announcement that it was considering handing the counselling role currently carried out by abortion providers like Marie Stopes and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service to other organisations.

However, the rally by more than 300 pro-choice supporters was told there is no guarantee under the proposals that women would going to get the type of care and advice that they require, especially if the independent organisations included those with links to faith-based groups actively opposed to abortion.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

Swedish doctors on Monday presented a new method they said dramatically reduces the risk of multiple births from in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) without affecting chances of having a baby.

The technique will help doctors determine the chances of giving birth to a healthy baby through IVF, they said.

At present, fertility clinics tend to transfer several embryos to the uterus to boost the chance of a live birth, but this often leads to multiple pregnancies that carry a higher risk of complications for the mother as well as a lower birth weight and developmental difficulties for the child.

“There are other prediction models, but this is the first one that differentiates between the chance (of pregnancy) if you transfer either one or two embryos and also calculates the risk of twins,” Jan Holte of the Carl von Linne clinic in Uppsala told AFP.

With this model, “when it is time for transferring embryos, if we see that the twin risk is too high, we only transfer one embryo and we freeze the others,” he explained.

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Some women keep smoking through pregnancy just because they want to give birth to a smaller baby, according to British researchers.

Even though most women now understand there is “overwhelming evidence” that smoking during pregnancy is harmful to the developing child, they continue to do so, said Professor Nick Macklon of Southampton University.
He told the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in Stockholm: “It is important that people who believe that a smaller baby means an easier birth take into account the increased risk of complicated deliveries in smokers, as well as the risk of disease later in life which goes with low birth weight.”
“Smoking during pregnancy is not just bad for the mother and baby, but for the adult it ill grow into.”

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Scientist have identified the precise molecular mechanism leading to the breakdown of the body’s natural defences that protect DNA against harm from excessive alcohol

Binge drinking can cause permanent genetic damage especially to the unborn children of women in the earliest stage of pregnancy, according to a study which shows for the first time how alcohol destroys DNA.

Scientists have identified the precise molecular mechanism leading to the breakdown of the body’s natural defences that protect DNA against damage from excessive alcohol in the bloodstream. They believe the results demonstrate that binge drinking causes a build-up of toxins within the body, causing irreversible genetic damage, which may explain the phenomenon known as foetal-alcohol syndrome, when babies of mothers who drink during pregnancy are born with congenital learning problems.

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Babies born to mothers who stop smoking in early pregnancy are similar weight to those born to mothers who never smoked – study

Women who stop smoking as late as when pregnancy is confirmed can dramatically boost the health of their baby, scientists said on Wednesday.

In the largest study of its kind, researchers led by Professor Nick Macklon, a consultant gynaecologist at the Princess Anne hospital in Southampton, studied the outcomes of 50,000 pregnancies.

They found that women who gave up smoking at the time of conception or when their pregnancy was confirmed gave birth to babies with a similar weight to those born to mothers who had never smoked, cutting the risk of complications associated with low birthweight.

Macklon said that healthy development during pregnancy without exposure to smoke also helped to limit the chances of premature birth, which can cause brain damage and congenital defects such as cleft lip and other illness in later life.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

Expectant mothers can drink small amounts of alcohol without harming their baby, claim experts.

Enjoying one or two glasses of wine a week – about two units – does not raise the risk of premature birth or impair the foetus’s growth.

According to research – which looked at 36 studies from around the world on alcohol intake and pregnancy – it is safe to drink the equivalent of half a unit a day.

The finding is likely to add to the confusion surrounding alcohol and pregnancy.

Department of Health guidelines advise expectant mothers to abstain completely.

But researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto found that consuming 10g of alcohol a day – just over half a unit – would not harm the unborn baby’s development or increase the chance of premature birth.

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Victoria Beckham still has a “little while to go” until she gives birth.

The 37-year-old fashion designer – who is believed to be booked in for a caesarean section at a hospital in California to deliver her and husband David Beckham’s fourth child later today – is still awaiting the arrival of the couple’s first daughter.

Her spokesperson told gossip website RadarOnline.com: “She still has a little while to go.”

The couple – who already raise sons Brooklyn, 12, Romeo, eight, and six-year-old Cruz – recently admitted July 4 will always be a special day for them.

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They are pictures that don’t so much tell the story as shout it loud and clear.

While Carla Bruni is still yet to confirm her pregnancy, the clingy summer dresses she was seen in yesterday were unequivocal.

The French First Lady showed off an unmistakable baby bump as she strolled with husband Nicolas Sarkozy on a break at the Fort de Bregancon, a presidential retreat on the Mediterranean coast. Alongside his 43-year-old model wife, Mr Sarkozy, 56, adopted a youthfully casual style, sockless and with his unbuttoned shirt flapping in the breeze.

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A woman’s risk of miscarriage can be predicted by a groundbreaking new test, doctors said today.

The simple urine check could eventually help to “rescue” many of the 250,000 pregnancies a year – in the UK alone – that end with the loss of a baby.

Women could also be spared potentially harmful and unnecessary interventions such as enforced bed rest and the use of hormone-based drugs.

Researchers at St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester found they could predict the outcome of more than nine out of 10 problematic pregnancies by measuring the amount of bleeding a pregnant woman suffers and the levels of pregnancy hormone in her blood or urine.

Dr Kaltum Adam, who led the study, said the test, which is inexpensive and did not need sophisticated equipment, could encourage experts to devise ways of halting the loss of a baby.

Source: Thisislondon>> Read full article and comment

A year after Spain brought in a controversial reform of its abortion laws, statistics show a decline in the number of terminations, putting paid to fears from opponents that rates would rocket.

Women are terminating their pregnancies earlier than under the previous legislation, an association for licensed abortion clinics also reported.
Spain brought its abortion laws in line with most other European countries last July allowing abortion on demand up to 14 weeks of pregnancy and up to 22 weeks if there is fetal malformation or threat to the health of the mother.
Before its introduction abortions were offered under restricted circumstances and rarely in a public hospital. Terminations were allowed only until the 12th week of pregnancy in cases of rape or until the 24 weeks if a woman’s mental or physical health was in danger.

Source: TELEGRAPH>> Read full article and comment

They are pictures that don’t so much tell the story as shout it loud and clear.

While Carla Bruni is still yet to confirm her pregnancy, the clingy summer dresses she was seen in yesterday were unequivocal.

The French First Lady showed off an unmistakable baby bump as she strolled with husband Nicolas Sarkozy on a break at the Fort de Bregancon, a presidential retreat on the Mediterranean coast. Alongside his 43-year-old model wife, Mr Sarkozy, 56, adopted a youthfully casual style, sockless and with his unbuttoned shirt flapping in the breeze.

And perhaps it was the prospect of his fourth child on the way – or possibly his wedged loafers and a favourable slope – but the 5ft 5in president appeared to have an extra spring in his step, putting him on a level footing with 5ft 10in Miss Bruni.

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A mathematical model which can reduce the number of IVF twin births has been drawn up by scientists.

Multiple pregnancies, where a woman becomes pregnant with two or more embryos, can cause complications including miscarriage, premature birth, low birth weight, cerebral palsy and death.

Until now, fertility clinics have transferred two or more embryos per treatment to maximise the chances of a successful implantation. But researchers have constructed a model that predicts the chances of pregnancy and the risk of twins – meaning women found more likely to have twins can be implanted with one.

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Twenty-six pregnancies have been aborted in the past nine years because babies would have been born with cleft lips or palates, according to figures released yesterday after a High Court ruling.

The abortions, which included one foetus terminated after the 24-week legal limit, were described as “appalling” by pro-life campaigners, who said disabled babies should be afforded the same right to life as others.
The Department of Health statistics, which go back almost a decade, were released after a six-year legal battle. They reveal that between 2002 and 2010 there were 17,983 terminations on the grounds that there was a “substantial risk” that the babies would be “seriously handicapped” — known as Ground E abortions. Of these, 1,189 were aborted after 24 weeks, after which there must be such a serious risk for an abortion to be legal if the mother is not in danger. Last year 147 foetuses were aborted after 24 weeks, a rise of 29 per cent since 2002.

Source: TELEGRAPH>> Read full article and comment

Women who suffer multiple miscarriages are just as likely to get pregnant again as others, research reveals.

Experts today urged women not to give up hope or stop trying after it was revealed they also have a good chance of giving birth to a healthy baby.

Researchers have discovered it can take between four months to two years to get pregnant naturally after losing a baby. This is not much longer than the time it takes women without a history of miscarriage, and nearly two thirds (65 per cent) will have a live birth.

Singer Lily Allen, 26, gave birth to a stillborn child last year after she suffered a viral infection. Now pregnant again, she told Elle magazine how her local vicar and neighbours had helped her to cope with the loss

Source: London Evening Standard>> Read full article and comment

Ovarian stimulation undertaken by women over 35 receiving fertility treatment may be leading to IVF failure, pregnancy loss or, more rarely, the birth of children with conditions such as Down’s syndrome, according to a new study.

Researchers believe the procedure, which uses hormonal medication to prompt the ovaries to release a larger number of reproductive cells (oocytes) than normal, is disturbing a critical process of chromosome duplication called meiosis.

This leads to abnormalities of chromosome copy numbers resulting in adverse effects, they say.

Researchers will tell the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Stockholm, Sweden, that results of the research are leading to a new understanding about how such abnormalities are developing, and they believe that the ovarian stimulation a woman receives might be playing a part.

Source: Thisislondon>> Read full article and comment

A ‘high-intensity’ IVF approach, frequently used on women trying for a baby who are over 35, could be counterproductive and reduce the chance of having a healthy baby, British scientists believe.

Such patients are routinely given strong doses of drugs to “drive” their ovaries into producing large numbers of eggs to harvest for in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).
The thinking is that the more eggs available, the higher the chances of getting a good one and hence a viable pregnancy.
But now fertility experts have found evidence that playing this ‘numbers game’ might damage the eggs themselves, reducing the likelihood of having a healthy baby.
They fear that high doses of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) could make it more likely that eggs will have large-scale genetic faults known as chromosomal abnormalities.

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Smooth sailing for the newborn

Mums and babies don’t have it easy. First comes pregnancy’s arcane rules – nine months when you can’t eat ham, smoke crack or sit in a jacuzzi. Then the baby turns up and the rules go out the window: neither of you know what you’re doing.

Source: GUARDIAN

After struggling with infertility for three years, Julia Grovenburg and her husband Todd seriously considered adopting a baby from a foreign country in order to complete their dreams of having a family.

But in a final and desperate attempt to have children of their own, the couple gave it one last try and on one lucky Sunday afternoon in July 2009, Julia’s pregnancy test finally came back positive.

However, because Mrs Grovenburg, 33, and her 34-year-old husband had been trying so hard to conceive, she actually became pregnant twice within two weeks, shocking the world with their unusual pregnancy news.

As one of only 11 women ever reported to get pregnant while already pregnant, Mrs Grovenburg’s pregnancy was eventually identified as ‘superfetation’, meaning two babies are conceived at different times, born on the same day yet – medically speaking – are not considered twins.

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Woman finds out she is pregnant just minutes before she gave birth

A shop assistant who thought she was suffering from terrible period pains was amazed when she was told she was actually nine months pregnant and had gone into labour.

Sarah Ireland, 23, had been bouncing blithely on a trampoline to celebrate the Royal Wedding just weeks before. The new mother from Scarborough in North Yorkshire said she only found out she was giving birth to a son when she was in the back of an ambulance on the way to hospital.

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Government plans for women to receive compulsory counselling ‘independently’ will delay treatments, charities say

By Ben Quinn and Denis Campbell

Charities which provide abortions could be stripped of their ability to also counsel women, under plans being considered by the government.

Measures which would mean women must be referred to an “independent” organisation for counselling were being considered, said the Department of Health (DoH).

The announcement has sparked alarm among abortion providers who warned the change would delay women accessing the treatment they needed and insisted there was no evidence that the current system was not working.

Charities including the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and Marie Stopes offer the compulsory counselling women must undertake before they make a decision on termination.

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A mother-of-two has died from an aggressive cancer that she thought was a just a bad back brought on by her pregnancy.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Karine Mussulin, 32, complained of severe backache but believed it was simply a result of carrying her second child.

But the condition became worse and at times the au pair from Bristol lost all feeling in her legs. She brought the problem up with doctors but was told it was a trapped nerve.

After her daughter Nayara, now five months old, was born at the city’s Southmead Hospital in January, Miss Mussulin had exploratory tests.

She was found to have a tumour in her spine and metastatic cancer, which had spread around her body

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As Liz Ling entered the final stages of labour, she and her husband Declan felt growing excitement at the impending arrival of their baby.

By LUCY ELKINS

With the final push, the couple gripped each other’s hand in anticipation.

But when their son Ottis was born in May 2007, instead of the sound of a newborn crying, there was silence. The couple’s strapping 9 lb 4 oz boy was stillborn.

It was a terrible shock – there had been no hint of any problems during Liz’s pregnancy. Nor was Ottis premature; he was born two weeks after his due date and Liz had felt him kicking right until the end.

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It is a decision no expectant mother should ever have to make.

By PAUL SIMS and JILL FOSTER

But when Paula Cawte was told that her unborn baby was developing outside her womb doctors gave her two heart-breaking options.

She could either terminate the pregnancy, or risk her own life to have a baby that would probably be severely disabled – because its birth would have to be so premature – or stillborn. Despite the overwhelming odds stacked against her, she risked her life and now her daughter Eva, healthy and thriving, is about to celebrate her first birthday.

Her amazing story is even more inspiring considering there are just three recorded cases of babies surviving this rare type of pregnancy in the UK in the last 20 years. The chances of both mother and baby surviving were three million to one.

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Mothers who eat too much during pregnancy increase the risk of low IQ, eating disorders and psychosis in their children.

By Laura Donnelly and Leah Farrar

Every pregnant woman worries about eating properly to nurture her unborn child.
But between strange cravings and old-fashioned advice to start “eating for two” many find themselves tipping the scales far too heavily – with one in six women classed as obese within just three months of becoming pregnant, and many more putting on too much weight in later months – suggesting babies are being put at risk on a massive scale.
Now, a study has warned of new risks to their children, who are more likely than others to suffer from a range of problems including low IQs, eating disorders and psychosis.

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Women’s rights campaigners see the creeping criminalisation of pregnant women as a new front in the culture wars over abortion

By Ed Pilkington in New York

Rennie Gibbs is accused of murder, but the crime she is alleged to have committed does not sound like an ordinary killing. Yet she faces life in prison in Mississippi over the death of her unborn child.

Gibbs became pregnant aged 15, but lost the baby in December 2006 in a stillbirth when she was 36 weeks into the pregnancy. When prosecutors discovered that she had a cocaine habit – though there is no evidence that drug abuse had anything to do with the baby’s death – they charged her with the “depraved-heart murder” of her child, which carries a mandatory life sentence.

Gibbs is the first woman in Mississippi to be charged with murder relating to the loss of her unborn baby. But her case is by no means isolated. Across the US more and more prosecutions are being brought that seek to turn pregnant women into criminals.

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Just days after telling her employer she was pregnant, Danniella McClain was made redundant. And the number of similar cases of sexual discrimination is rising

By Amelia Gentleman

Be open, honest, and unapologetic – this is the approach pregnancy manuals advise women to take when informing their employers they are going to have a baby. Most manuals also recognise that this can be one of the most stressful parts of early pregnancy.

Danniella McClain, 28, waited until she reached the 13-week milestone and had seen the foetus on a scan before telling her boss. She was anxious, but fairly confident that it would be a straightforward conversation. Within seconds it was obvious the news was unwelcome; within days she was made redundant.

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Women who smoke during pregnancy may lower the level of ‘good’ cholesterol in their children, with some negative impacts showing up later in life, according to a study released Tuesday.

HDL – or high-density lipoprotein – cholesterol helps protect against heart disease as one gets older.

The research, published in the European Heart Journal, showed that by age eight children born to mothers who smoked while pregnant had HDL cholesterol levels about 10 percent below normal, once other factors were taken into account.

Whether or not children were exposed to other people’s smoke after birth did not change the outcome, a strong indication that prenatal exposure had the most impact on subsequent development, the study found.

“Our results suggest that maternal smoking ‘imprints’ an unhealthy set of characteristics on children while they are developing in the womb, which may well predispose them to later heart attack and stroke,” said David Celermajer, a professor at the University of Sydney and leader of the study.

Source: INDEPENDENT>> Read full article and comment

Mothers who smoke while pregnant could be increasing the chances of their children having heart disease in later life by up to 15 per cent, according to research published today.

By Stephen Adams, Medical Correspondent

Smoking in pregnancy lowers a type of cholesterol known to protect against heart disease, called high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.
Children of mothers who smoked while pregnant had HDL levels 10 per cent lower than those whose mothers did not smoke, found Australian researchers.
While the normal level in children was 1.5 mmol/L (millimoles per litre – used to measure very low concentrations of substances in blood), after adjusting for various factors the level in children with smoking mothers was 1.35 mmol/L.
The researchers were confident the difference was caused by exposure in the womb, because it was independent of whether the children had been exposed to passive smoking after birth.

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Women who suffer domestic violence during pregnancy are much more likely to experience post-natal depression, according to research.

By Stephen Adams, Medical Correspondent

Those who suffered emotional or physical abuse while pregnant were two-and-a-half times more likely to have depressive symptoms when the child was eight weeks old (25 per cent), compared to those who had not (10 per cent).
Researchers from King’s College University’s Institute of Psychiatry analysed results from 13,617 women who were asked their experiences of domestic abuse and assessed for post-natal depression.

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The gaps in the Big Society give Labour a chance to find out what people really want, writes Mary Riddell.

By Mary Riddell

Is God a Tory? David Cameron must hope so. Last week Eric Pickles invoked the wisdom of Wesley and Wilberforce in a sermon to faith communities. “Is it not the great end of religion… to smooth the asperities of man?” demanded Saint Eric. Alas, only up to a point.
The Community Secretary’s wish “to tap into the secular side of your work” provoked some asperity, not to say outrage, among his hosts, the Cinnamon Network of 100 Christian charities. As one organiser says: “That sounds as if he’s only after our expertise.”
It is easy to see why Mr Pickles covets the 72 million hours devoted to the community by church volunteers each year. This social goldmine, worth over £1 billion in Britain, is even more lucrative in the States, where the policy prophet Robert Putnam claims in his book American Grace that believers are nicer people and better neighbours.

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The Spice Girls have all come a long way since their days of Adidas tracksuits and Union Jack dresses.

By Lauren Paxman

But it is Victoria Beckham who has worked the hardest to leave her days of PVC all-in-ones and thigh-skimming dresses far behind.

The former singer has earned the support of the fashion world by building up her highly successful, eponymous label, dressing A-listers including Blake Lively, Katherine Jenkins and Elle Macpherson.

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Well over half of women believe just before they reach their 30th birthday is the best time to start a family, according to research.

By Daily Mail Reporter

The majority of women – 59 per cent, believe at 29 they’ll be in the best possible position to have a baby.

At this age they feel financially secure enough to afford the costs of bringing up a child.

A large proportion of women also believe that it is at this point in their lives they feel most secure in their relationship.

At 29, women say they have been in a loving and stable relationship long enough that they are ready to have a baby.

The research, by home fertility and pregnancy test company Clearblue, also examined what women felt boosted their chances of becoming pregnant.

Source: DAILYMAIL

Toddlers and Tiaras is back – and so are two of its biggest stars

By Tamara Abraham

The tiny costumes and the giant tantrums have made Toddlers and Tiaras one of TLC’s biggest hits.

Now, the pint-sized pageant queens and pushy parents are back for the show’s fifth season.

The first episode, which airs tonight on TLC, charts the rivalry between two of the industry’s biggest stars: Eden Wood, six, and Makenzie Myers, five.

The pair’s preparations for the Universal Royalty Beauty Pageant, in Plano, Texas, make for compelling viewing.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Women who sleep on their right side or back during the late stages of pregnancy could be at higher risk of stillbirth.

By Jenny Hope

The risk doubles in the last three months compared with those sleeping on the left side, a study suggests.

But experts stress a link has not been established, the overall risk is small and a mother-to-be’s sleeping position may result from the baby moving less in the days before dying.

Source: DAILYMAIL

Women who sleep on their right side or back during late pregnancy could be at increased risk of stillbirth, a research has suggested.

Experts found a link between sleeping position and the chance of late stillbirth (28 weeks or over) in a study of more than 450 women.

The overall risk of late stillbirth was small – just three per 1,000 births – but researchers said the findings needed “urgent confirmation” in other studies.

Some 155 women who had a late stillbirth were questioned about their lifestyles, and compared with 310 women who went on to have healthy pregnancies.

The women were questioned in the first few weeks after stillbirth and asked about things such as the positions they fell asleep and woke up in, whether they were sleepy during the day and whether they snored. They were also asked how often they got up to go to the toilet during the night, and how often they did all of these things in the last month, week and night before their baby died.

Source: Evening Standard>> Read full article and comment

Pop star Lily Allen is pregnant, it was revealed on her wedding day.

The Smile singer married Sam Cooper in an intimate country wedding yesterday, joined by fewer than 100 close family members and friends.

News of her pregnancy comes after she lost her second baby last November, when six months pregnant.

A visible bump seen under the singer’s empire-line dress – and her glowing appearance – led onlookers to speculate that the 26-year-old may be expecting a baby.

The news was later confirmed by her wedding dress designer, Delphine Manivet, following online reports that Allen’s new husband had broken the news to guests at the wedding breakfast.

Source: Evening Standard>> Read full article and comment

Pregnant women will be lectured on the dangers of drinking alcohol – in a programme bankrolled by the world’s biggest spirits company.

By Gerri Peev

Diageo – which is behind drinks including Guinness, Baileys and Smirnoff Ice – will pay £4million so midwives can tell expectant mothers what most already know: to avoid alcohol.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said yesterday it was concerned about ‘the drinks industry funding health campaigns because there could be a conflict of interest in some cases’.

A spokesman said: ‘If the drinks industry does fund a health campaign, it is essential that independent clinical advice is sought.’

Source: DAILYMAIL

A pregnant woman who tricked her way into a Manchester pensioner’s home and proceeded to wash her hair and steal the victim’s purse is sought by police.

The woman approached the 89-year-old as she stood at her front door on Brunswick Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock, on Saturday evening.

The thief told the woman she needed to use her toilet and then went to wash her hair in the kitchen, police said.

She then sat next to the victim on a sofa, stole her purse and fled.

Source: BBC NEWS

Drinks retailer Diageo is to fund a training programme for midwives in England and Wales on the dangers of pregnant women consuming alcohol.

Source: BBC NEWS

Drinks giant Diageo will pay for 10,000 midwives to be trained in highlighting to pregnant women the dangers of drinking alcohol, it has been reported.

The move is an example of the Government’s bid to attract the private sector into public health.

The Department of Health hopes the initiative will help more than a million expectant mothers over three years, the BBC reported.

But the British Medical Association has expressed concern about the drinks industry financing such programmes.

Public Health Minister Anne Milton told the network: “Midwives are one of the most trusted sources of information and advice for pregnant women. This pledge is a great example of how business can work with NHS staff to provide women with valuable information.

“This will help over a million women over the next three years to make an informed decision about drinking during their pregnancy. It will potentially improve their health and also give their baby the best start in life.”

Source: ThisIsLondon>> Read full article and comment

Drinks retailer Diageo is to pay for 10,000 midwives in England and Wales to be trained to offer advice on the dangers of alcohol during pregnancy.

The Department of Health hopes the training initiative will in turn help more than one million expectant mothers over three years.

It is part of government moves to bring the private sector into public health.

The British Medical Association has expressed concern about the drinks industry funding such a scheme.

Government guidance is for pregnant women to avoid drinking alcohol, but if they do to drink only one to two units, once or twice a week.

The Department of Health said the UK Infant Feeding Survey 2005 suggested that 34% of women gave up drinking while they were pregnant, 61% drank less and 4% did not change their drinking pattern.

Public Health Minister Anne Milton said: “Midwives are one of the most trusted sources of information and advice for pregnant women. This pledge is a great example of how business can work with NHS staff to provide women with valuable information.

“This will help over a million women over the next three years to make an informed decision about drinking during their pregnancy. It will potentially improve their health and also give their baby the best start in life.”

Source: BBC NEWS

Drinks giant Diageo will pay for 10,000 midwives to be trained in highlighting to pregnant women the dangers of drinking alcohol, it has been reported.

The move is an example of the Government’s bid to attract the private sector into public health.

The Department of Health hopes the initiative will help more than a million expectant mothers over three years, the BBC reported.

But the British Medical Association has expressed concern about the drinks industry financing such programmes.

Public Health Minister Anne Milton told the network: “Midwives are one of the most trusted sources of information and advice for pregnant women. This pledge is a great example of how business can work with NHS staff to provide women with valuable information.

“This will help over a million women over the next three years to make an informed decision about drinking during their pregnancy. It will potentially improve their health and also give their baby the best start in life.”

Government guidance is for pregnant women to avoid drinking alcohol, but if they do to drink only one to two units, once or twice a week.

Diageo is one of the biggest drinks businesses and its brands include Guinness, Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff.

Source: ThisIsLondon>> Read full article and comment

News that German sprouts are to blame for the deadliest E.coli outbreak in history should put parents, the elderly and pregnant women on high alert.

In a general statement unrelated to the recent outbreak in Europe, the US Federal Department of Agriculture (FDA) has always advised that children, the elderly, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems avoid eating raw sprouts of any kind altogether – sprouts that include alfalfa, clover, radish and mung bean sprouts.

Because they’re grown in warm and humid conditions, sprouts provide the ideal breeding ground for bacteria like Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli and have killed in the past.

Since 1996 there have been at least 30 outbreaks of foodborne illnesses associated with different types of raw and lightly cooked sprouts in the US.

Last year, 68 people in England and 15 people in Scotland tested positive for Salmonella bareilly after eating sprouts from a salad producer.

Rinsing the sprouts will not remove bacteria, and can continue to pose a health risk.

Likewise, growing sprouts at home can also pose a danger as harmful bacteria could be present in or on the seed and can grow to high levels even under sanitary conditions at home, the FDA says.

Source: INDEPENDENT

A Christian mental health worker has been sacked after passing colleagues a booklet warning of the physical and psychological damage some women suffer after an abortion.

Margaret Forrester discussed the booklet with family planning staff at the health centre where she worked because she felt that the NHS was failing to give patients information about the risks and other options to terminating a pregnancy.

But after a six-month disciplinary process, during which Ms Forrester had to fight her own case and became ill, she was found guilty of “gross professional misconduct” and fired.

She has spoken out over the “scandal” of the pro-abortion culture in the medical profession and claimed that Christians were “an easy target” for “politically correct” bureaucrats in the NHS.

“The NHS has a pro-abortion stance which comes from a secular religion. It is a belief system which is aggressively anti-Christian,” she said.

Ms Forrester’s difficulties began on Nov 2 last year, when she had an informal conversation with a colleague in her role as a psychological wellbeing practitioner in Westminster, central London.
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Source: TELEGRAPH

A heavily pregnant woman was confronted by police and accused of trespass after being carried off a train where she had been trapped for hours late at night.

By John Bingham

Emma Firth, who is eight months pregnant, joined a group of passengers in an impromptu evacuation from the train stranded outside Woking station in Surrey three hours into what should have been a 20 minute journey.

They were among thousands of commuters caught up in chaos after signal failure left a total of 60 trains stranded, some without power, until 11pm last night.

It was the second time in three days that signals forced an almost complete shutdown of the South West Trains network, the busiest rail operator in the country which serves a large stretch of the London commuter belt.

Source: TELEGRAPH

The maternity unit where mothers are THREE to a bed

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:35 PM on 9th June 2011

It may look more like an overcrowded squat but this is actually a maternity ward.

The ward is at Dr Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila in the Philippines where some 300 new mothers crammed three to a bed.

It is one of the busiest maternity wards in the world with an average of 60 births a day but it can record as many as 100 in 24 hours. Sometimes, during high season, 13 to 16 babies are in the delivery room at the same time,’ Arlene Matanguihan, a resident doctor, told the Guardian.

‘It’s chaotic but an organised chaos. We can still manage – no baby drops out on the floor.’

Source: DAILYMAIL

As she looks in the mirror and strokes her swollen stomach Bella Swan appears extremely confused.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:12 PM on 6th June 2011

And given that her husband Edward Cullen isn’t even human, carrying his baby would seem impossible – but then anything can happen in the sleepy town of Forks.

Fans of the Twilight vampire saga have to wait until November to see the release of the fourth instalment, Breaking Dawn, but until then a new two-minute trailer has been released offering fans a sneak peek.

Source: DAILYMAIL

To counter sex-selective abortion, increase opportunities and education – don’t limit women’s control over their bodies

BY Sarah Ditum

For the unlucky foetus conceived with two X chromosomes to parents who would rather have no child at all than have the burden of a girl, making it through a full-term pregnancy is no guarantee of a life to come. A research paper by Nancy Qian of Yale found that for every 100 females aborted in Taiwan after the procedure was legalised, 10 additional girl infants survived. Because parents could select for sex before birth, they were less likely to select for sex after birth – that is, less likely to kill their unwanted girl children, either by neglecting them or simply murdering them.

Source: GUARDIAN

A lawyer died after she was given a dose of a labour inducing drug 16 times the level stated in national guidelines, an inquest heard.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:22 PM on 3rd June 2011

Suzanne Ballantyne, 47, a partner at Capsticks Solicitors, was being treated at St George’s Hospital in London, after her unborn child died in the womb 39 weeks into her pregnancy. Doctors gave her an 800-microgramme dose of misoprostol, as recommended by the Trust’s in-house protocol, in an attempt to induce labour and retrieve the foetus.

However, the drug is known to put patients at increased risk of tears to the uterus.

Source: DAILYMAIL

Kit for men will put them on fast-track to treatment

By Fiona Macrae
Last updated at 10:09 PM on 3rd June 2011

A simple test that could help millions of childless couples achieve their dream of having a family has been devised by UK fertility experts.

By taking a closer look at a man’s sperm, it allows prospective parents to be fast-tracked to the treatment that is most likely to succeed.

This could spare them the financial strain of repeated unsuccessful attempts at IVF – as well as the heartache of having their hopes dashed time and time again.

Source: DAILYMAIL