A Florida woman has given birth to a baby with microecephaly, the birth defect caused by the Zika virus, Reuters reported on Tuesday. This is the first affected child in the state.
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio on Zika Risk: 'We Are Very Concerned' About Mosquito Season
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Thursday that while city dwellers aren’t currently at risk for contracting Zika virus, his administration is “very concerned” about mosquito season come April.
Faulty Prenatal Screening Tests May Lead People to Choose to Abort
In the past few years, "non-invasive" prenatal screening tests have flooded the market, which claim to be able to predict chromosomal abnormalities like the one that causes Down Syndrome with near-perfect accuracy. But a new report has found that these blood tests may be vastly overstating how accurate they are,…
Terrible New Arizona Law Forces Horrified Parents to Watch their Babies Die
It's tough to find a job in this sluggish economy, but now, thanks to a law about to take effect in the state of Arizona, there may soon be a need for something called a "fetal grief counselor" in the American Southwest. Thanks to anti-abortion lawmakers' efforts, starting Thursday, mothers of babies with fatal fetal…
Fathers’ Career Choices May Lead to Birth Defects in Their Hypothetical Children
Men who huff paint or gas all day while on the job should probably be extra cautious about what they're exposing their precious sperm to, especially in the three months leading up to any potential baby-making ritual. A new study has found that fathers who work in certain sperm-jeopardizing fields have a higher risk of…
Terrible New Law Requires Women to Give Birth to Nonviable Fetuses
Georgia is just a governor's signature away from totally banning abortions that occur after 20 weeks of pregnancy under the dubious assertion that at that point, fetuses can feel pain. Anti-abortion advocates crow that this is a positive step toward protecting life, but where this law is totally and irredeemably…
Rick Santorum's Calls 3-Year-Old Daughter's Recovery 'Miraculous'
Former Senator Rick Santorum cancelled his Presidential campaign stops in Florida yesterday after his 3-year-old daughter Bella was hospitalized with pneumonia. Now, he's saying that he may return to the campaign trail after Bella's prognosis suddenly started looking more positive. She may even be able to check out of…
5 Women Sue Texas Instruments Over Birth Defects
Five women claim that their children's birth defects -– including scoliosis, partial blindness, and ADHD -– were caused by exposure to "hazardous chemicals and substances" at the company's Dallas and Santa Cruz facilities.
New Recommendations For Depression During Pregnancy, But Few Answers
Two medical associations recently released a report advocating that decisions on depression treatment for pregnant women be made on a case-by-case basis. For many expectant moms, this isn't much help.
Medical Marvel
An infant in China was born with a rare medical condition: he has two penises. And one of them is located in the middle of his back. Let the dick-punning begin. [WorldofWonder]
Doctors Warn Botox May Cause Birth Defects
Shockingly, injecting botulinum toxin into pregnant women may cause birth defects in their unborn children, according to Australian doctors.
Abortion (Research) Will Be The Death Of Us
With another day comes yet another study of the effects of abortion on women. The newest study by researchers at Johns Hopkins shows that what little hard scientific research exists on how women feel after an abortion indicates that women who have abortions don't tend to have more emotional problems than ones that…
Prozac Nation
Women who take antidepressant fluoxetine (the generic name for Prozac) during pregnancy
are four times as likely to give birth to babies with heart problems, according to reports, while women who take the anti-depressant paroxetine are three times as likely. A study, published in the current says, “Further analysis…
Babies conceived through medical procedures used in fertility clinics are two to four times more likely to have certain birth defects than infants conceived naturally, according to a new study. The defects include heart problems, cleft lip, cleft palate and abnormalities in the esophagus or rectum, according to the…
Researchers at the University of Utah have found that gastroschisis, a serious birth defect in which infants are born with their intestines and organs outside of their abdomen, is linked to STDs and UTIs contracted just before or during pregnancy. Although the causes for gastroschisis are not known, women in the…
What Is A Permissible Imperfection In A Child?
Cindy McCain is in Vietnam today on behalf of the group Operation Smile, which repairs the cleft lips and palates of children whose parents couldn't otherwise afford the (relatively simple) surgery. Her involvement with the charity helps highlight its work and brings in donations and gives me rather a soft-spot for…
Lakshmi Update!
Because we continue to be spellbound by her adorableness and her condition, we bring you the happy news that our favorite reincarnated Indian deity has woken up from her surgery! She wiggled her toes! She smiled at her parents! And the doctors released CTs and X-rays to help us all understand, which we provide for you…
While we could have chosen a photo of Lakshmi all two-legged and wrapped in bandages with a breathing tube off her doctors' computer screen, our hormones just wouldn't let us not publish this photo. Lakshmi, who we cooed over yesterday, survived her 24 hour and $625,000 pro-bono surgery yesterday! She may have to have…
Lakshmi was born with 4 arms and 4 legs, having absorbed her own parasitic twin in utero (is it totally wrong to make a Kuato reference here?). Doctors report that they have to remove the extra limbs and organs, and that they expect her to survive but that she might not ever be able to walk. The real question, though,…
