Preeclampsia can be fatal for pregnant people and babies. New blood tests aim to show who's at risk

When you're expecting a baby, you hope nothing goes wrong. But at least one in 20 people who are pregnant develop a scary complication called preeclampsia, a high blood pressure disorder that kills 70,000 women and 500,000 babies worldwide every year. There was no way to know when it...

More African nations focus on HPV vaccination against cervical cancer, but hesitancy remains

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Yunusa Bawa spends a lot of time talking about the vaccine for the human papillomavirus that is responsible for nearly all cases of cervical cancer. But on most days, only two or three people allow their daughters to be vaccinated in the rural part of Nigeria where he works....

UN envoy defends failure to include Afghan women in upcoming meeting with the Taliban in Qatar

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations' top official in Afghanistan defended the failure to include Afghan women in the upcoming first meeting between the Taliban and envoys from 22 countries, insisting that demands for women’s rights are certain to be raised. U.N. special...

An anti-abortion group in South Dakota sues to take an abortion rights initiative off the ballot

An anti-abortion group in South Dakota has sued to block an abortion rights measure from the November ballot. In its complaint filed Thursday, Life Defense Fund alleged various wrongdoing by the measure's supporters, as well as invalid signatures and fraud. The group seeks to...

Texas Supreme Court rejects challenge to abortion ban from women who say their health was put at risk during pregnancies

Planned Parenthood asks judge to expand health exception to Indiana abortion ban

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Abortion providers are asking an Indiana trial judge this week to broaden access to abortions under the state's near-total ban. Indiana law allows for abortion in rare circumstances, including when the health or life of the woman is at risk, but only at a...

Kansas clinic temporarily halts abortions after leadership shakeup

A Kansas women's health clinic that has often served as an epicenter of conflict over abortion rights has temporarily stopped offering the procedure, exasperating a strain on services in one of the few states in the region still allowing abortions. The move this week at the Trust...

HPV vaccines prevent cancer in men as well as women, new research suggests

New research suggests the HPV vaccine is preventing cancer in men, as well as in women, but fewer boys than girls are getting the shots in the United States. The HPV vaccine was developed to prevent cervical cancer in women and experts give it credit, along with screening, for...

Closure of California federal prison was poorly planned, judge says in ordering further monitoring

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The plan to close a troubled prison in California where female inmates suffered sexual abuse by guards was “ill-conceived,” a judge said while ordering close monitoring and care of the incarcerated women who were moved to other federal facilities across the country. ...

Democrats hope abortion issue will offset doubts about Biden in Michigan

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Two women campaigning for President Joe Biden after facing medical emergencies because of abortion restrictions in their states visited Michigan on Tuesday to highlight what they say are the risks to women’s health since federal abortion protections were overturned. ...