Latest KFF Health News Stories
A Parent-To-Parent Campaign To Get Vaccine Rates Up
Kim Nelson started the group South Carolina Parents for Vaccines after learning that religious exemptions from vaccine requirements were way up in her community.
Women Applaud Michelle Obama’s Decision To Share Her Trauma Of Miscarriage
The attention may help women understand that miscarriage is common but still not easily talked about.
FDA Allows Food Makers To Fortify Corn Masa To Halt Birth Defects, But Few Do
The decision aimed at adding folic acid — a vitamin that can prevent devastating defects of the brain, spine or spinal cord — to flours, chips and tortillas hasn’t caught on with many makers of widely used corn products.
‘Contraception Deserts’ Likely To Widen Under New Trump Administration Policy
Federal family planning funds, known as Title X, will soon fund for-profit women’s clinics that bar condoms, hormonal birth control and IUDs and offer only “natural family planning.”
Pediatricians Put It Bluntly: Motherhood And Marijuana Don’t Mix
Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should not use marijuana because of serious concerns about neurological consequences for children, the American Academy of Pediatrics said on Monday.
Battle Lines Drawn As Abortion-Rights Activists Leave Their Mark Outside Clinics
Armed with poster board and catchy advertising slogans, abortion-rights activists in California and elsewhere are taking to sidewalks, buses and mobile phone apps to fight a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of crisis pregnancy centers.
Biorhythms And Birth Control: FDA Stirs Debate By Approving ‘Natural’ App
Critics worry about the message federal officials are sending by approving a new birth control option, which uses a mobile phone app for women to track their body temperature and menstrual cycle to avoid pregnancy. But the more choices the better, some reproductive health experts say.
Babies Dependent On Opioids Need Touch, Not Tech
One doctor in Kansas works to make sure every hospital in the state can provide the soft start, ideally with their mothers, that babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome need.
If High Court Reverses Roe V. Wade, 22 States Poised To Ban Abortion
As with current abortion policies, a woman’s access to the procedure would continue to be determined by where she lives.
Trump’s Next High Court Pick Likely To Target Abortion. Is That What The Public Wants?
Findings from a new poll build on other recent surveys to suggest that Americans might not want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, but opinions vary when examined by party affiliation.
‘Where The Need Is:’ Tackling Teen Pregnancy With A Midwife At School
While U.S. teen pregnancy rates overall have trended steadily downward in the past decade, they remain high in some communities, particularly for black and Latina teens. In one part of Washington, D.C., a high school midwife program is a novel approach that’s showing promise in tackling the problem.
For The Babies Of The Opioid Crisis, The Best Care May Be Mom’s Recovery
Research is just beginning on infants born with neonatal abstinence syndrome, and doctors are optimistic that normal development is possible. Monitoring the families and making sure parents are treated for addiction is key.
Make Room For Baby: After Giving Birth, Duckworth Presses Senate To Bend Rules
The Illinois Democrat is the first sitting senator to give birth. She’s using the opportunity to call for adjusting Senate rules to accommodate new parents.
Tele-Monitoring Can Reduce Medical Appointments For Low-Risk Pregnancies
In a program called OB Nest, Mayo has been using a telemedicine program in its obstetrics clinic in Rochester, Minn., that allows low-risk expectant mothers to forego some standard prenatal visits.
States Extend Medicaid For Birth Control, Cutting Costs — And Future Enrollment
Medicaid family planning programs reduce unplanned births, but some are caught in disputes over federal funding to Planned Parenthood.
Docs Worry There’s ‘Nowhere To Send’ New And Expectant Moms With Depression
California’s legislature will soon take up a bill that would require doctors to screen pregnant women and new mothers for mental health problems. Many doctors oppose the idea, and laws elsewhere haven’t increased the number of moms treated.
Medicaid Is Rural America’s Financial Midwife
Medicaid payments allow struggling hospitals to maintain vital costly services such as maternity care.
Campus Voices: Should Student Health Centers Offer Abortion Pills?
California lawmakers are considering a bill that would require student health centers at all of the state’s four-year public universities to carry the abortion pill. Students at campuses across the state sounded off on the proposal.
At New Health Office, ‘Civil Rights’ Means Doctors’ Right To Say No To Patients
The HHS civil rights division refocuses on the rights of health care providers who have moral objections to treatments such as abortion or sterilization, alarming critics.
As Marijuana Laws Relax, Doctors Say Pregnant Women Shouldn’t Partake
Some mothers who smoke pot see it as a harmless remedy for everything from pain to postpartum depression. But doctors say the active ingredients in marijuana can be passed onto the baby and may affect developing nervous systems.
