Women Prescribed Drugs Linked To Birth Defects Not Often Advised To Use Birth Control (September 18, 2007) -- Although prescription medications that may increase the risk of birth defects are commonly used by women in their childbearing years, only about half receive contraceptive counseling from their ... > full story

Emergency Contraception Fails To Halt Abortions, Expert Says (September 15, 2006) -- Easy availability of emergency contraception does not have a notable effect on rates of pregnancy and abortion, according to an editorial in this week's ... > full story

Pregnant Women Exposed To Birth Defect-causing Agent (Accutane) Despite Risk Management Program (August 3, 2007) -- More than 120 pregnancies were exposed to a birth defect-causing agent during the first year of iPledge, a mandatory program designed to prevent pregnant women from being exposed to the anti-acne ... > full story

Antiretroviral Therapy After Birth Decreases Mother-to-child HIV Transmission (October 10, 2003) -- Antiretroviral therapy given to babies after birth offers protection against HIV infection, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public ... > full story

Preconception Care Crucial To Improving Maternal And Infant Health (September 21, 2006) -- The preconception period -- the time before a woman becomes pregnant -- is crucial to reducing many of the risks of birth defects and premature birth. Every visit to the doctor for women of ... > full story

Young Women Unfamiliar With Safety, Effectiveness Of IUD (December 16, 2006) -- The IUD might be one of the best-kept birth control secrets for young women, according to researchers at the University of Rochester Medical ... > full story

Frozen, Fresh Sperm Both Effective For In Vitro Fertilization (May 14, 2004) -- A new Mayo Clinic study shows that couples using in vitro fertilization have the same likelihood of successful pregnancy whether the sperm used is frozen or fresh. Researchers presented the results ... > full story

Mini-Pill Increases Risk Of Chronic Diabetes In Women With History Of Diabetes During Pregnancy (August 18, 1998) -- Women who develop diabetes during pregnancy face an increased risk of later developing type-2 diabetes. Now, USC researchers say that using the mini-pill -- progestin-only birth control pills -- may ... > full story

Progesterone Injections Do Not Prevent Preterm Birth In Twin Pregnancies, Study Finds (August 7, 2007) -- Weekly progesterone injections do not prevent premature births in women pregnant with twins, a new study has found. The result came as a surprise to the researchers, who previously discovered that ... > full story

Emergency Contraception Does Not Reduce Unintended Pregnancy Rate (April 18, 2007) -- The "morning after pill" may be a good option for individual women in crisis, but advance access to emergency contraception is no antidote for the national problem of unintended pregnancy. Contrary ... > full story

Is It Safe To Use Oral Contraceptives To Eliminate Periods? (August 31, 2007) -- The new birth control pill Lybrel is the first oral contraceptive designed to be taken 365 days a year with no pill-free intervals. Women who use Lybrel don't have regular periods, although they may ... > full story

Birth control -- Birth control is a regimen of one or more actions, devices, or medications followed in order to deliberately prevent or reduce the likelihood of a woman giving birth or becoming pregnant. Methods and ... > full article

Spermatozoon -- A spermatozoon or spermatozoan (pl. spermatozoa), and more commonly known as a sperm cell, is the haploid cell that is the male gamete. It joins an ovum to form a zygote. A zygote can grow into a new ... > full article

Pregnancy -- Pregnancy is the carrying of one or more embryos or fetuses by female mammals, including humans, inside their bodies. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations (for example, in the case of ... > full article

Fertility -- Fertility is the ability of people or animals to produce healthy offspring in abundance, and of the earth to bear fruit. Human fertility depends on factors of nutrition, sexual behavior, culture, ... > full article

Nutrition and pregnancy -- Nutrition and pregnancy refers to the nutrient intake, and dietary planning that is undertook before, during and after pregnancy. Not only have physical disorders been linked with ill-nutrition ... > full article

Oral contraceptive -- Oral contraceptives are chemicals taken by mouth to inhibit normal fertility. All act on the hormonal system. Female oral contraceptives, colloquially known as the Pill, are the most common form of ... > full article

Miscarriage -- Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the natural or accidental termination of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or the fetus is incapable of surviving, generally defined at a gestation of ... > full article

In vitro fertilisation -- In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a technique in which egg cells are fertilised outside the woman's body. IVF is a major treatment in infertility where other methods of achieving conception have ... > full article

Fertilisation -- Fertilisation, also spelt fertilization (also known as conception, fecundation and syngamy), is fusion of gametes to form a new organism of the same species. In animals, the process involves a sperm ... > full article

Premature birth -- Premature birth (also known as preterm birth) is defined medically as childbirth occurring earlier than 37 completed weeks of gestation. Most pregnancies last about 40 weeks. About 12 percent of ... > full article