FDA: Merck COVID pill effective, experts will review safety

Federal health regulators say an experimental COVID-19 pill from Merck is effective against the virus, but they will seek input from outside experts on risks of birth defects and other potential problems during pregnancy. The Food and Drug Administration posted its...

US health officials say Merck’s COVID-19 pill is effective, will seek advice next week on safety during pregnancy

Pregnant with COVID: Recovering after 85-day hospital stay

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Paola Gambini arrived at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies by ambulance on July 29, with a nearly full-term pregnancy and a COVID-19 diagnosis, gasping for air. “I remember the EMTs telling us, ‘you called at the right...

Conflict over abortion laws won't abate if Roe v. Wade falls

On both sides of America’s abortion debate, activists are convinced that Roe v. Wade — the 1973 Supreme Court ruling establishing a nationwide right to abortion — is imperiled as never before. Yet no matter how the current conservative-dominated court handles...

Research links COVID-19 in pregnancy with stillbirths

Pregnant women with COVID-19 face increased chances for stillbirths compared with uninfected women, and that risk spiked to four times higher after the delta variant emerged, new government data show. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a...

Beshear proposes merger of education and labor cabinets

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Gov. Andy Beshear announced Thursday that his administration is moving forward with a merger of Kentucky's education and labor cabinets. The Democratic governor said the current arrangement makes it difficult to remain competitive for some federal...

Women sue Yale over fentanyl switch-up at fertility clinic

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Seven women who say they suffered excruciating pain after a nurse stole fentanyl for her personal use and replaced it with saline sued Yale University on Wednesday, alleging it of failing to safeguard its supply of the painkilling opioid at a fertility clinic. ...

More turn to abortion pills by mail, with legality uncertain

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Before her daughter’s birth, she spent weeks in bed. Another difficult pregnancy would be worse as she tried to care for her toddler. Faced with that possibility, the 28-year-old Texas woman did what a growing number of people have considered: She...

Alabama boy named world's most premature infant to survive

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama boy who weighed less than a pound at birth after his mother went into labor at only 21 weeks and one day of gestation has been certified as the world's most premature baby to survive. Guinness World Records and...

California parents sue after getting another couple's embryo

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two California couples gave birth to each others' babies after a mix-up at a fertility clinic and spent months raising children that weren't theirs before swapping the infants, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles. Daphna Cardinale said...