Politics, Pain and Pregnancy: Relevant Fetal Factions

Some reproductive and infant headlines you may have missed in all the recent excitement:

• The Obama administration has reauthorized federal funding eligibility to organizations, foreign and domestic, that include abortion in their programs, which has seesawed back and forth depending on what party is in office. Supporters feel that this is a key step in strengthening family planning and thereby progress to address the conditions of the very poor, and women in dire circumstances, as well as address overall global population. For those that oppose, they argue that the personal responsibility that Obama spoke of is fundamentally tied to the issue of valuing and protecting life.
• Meanwhile, for those to whom abortion is denied as an option, they find a way, and a very dangerous way at that to abort on their own.
• For those that struggle with infertility the U.K. has been making some significant advances in their ability to select the eggs most likely to survive, and decreasing the odds of multiples. There are also some storied fertility statues making their way around the world that are credited with several pregnancies. Nevertheless, it definitely takes its toll, as a recent studied showed higher rates of anxiety and depression amongst those that have experienced infertility.
• Miscarriage is also heartbreaking, and it doesn't make it any easier that there are risks to subsequent pregnancies following miscarriage.
• Once one is pregnant, there are serious warnings about weight gain.
• There is also new evidence that suggests that cesarean sections carry a greater risks when performed too early.
• Longer leave is being shown to establish better health for mother and infant. More companies are actually allowing babies to come to work until they can crawl.
• For those that want to adopt, particularly in the U.K. be advised that you yourself must also pass fitness guidelines; a couple was recently denied consideration because the husband was deemed "to fat." 
• Finally, a study released that shows a four-fold increase in rates of infant suffocation and strangulation has reignited the debate over bed sharing.

Stay tuned for education headlines soon.