obstetrics

The peer-reviewed study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology says a pregnancy checkbox on national death certificates inflates the death rate.

More than half of American counties don't have an obstetrician. Family physicians, working in teams with proper support, could be the answer to the crisis in rural obstetric care.

As maternity wards continue to close across the U.S., demand for midwives has grown, especially in rural areas. But hospitals and health care providers have raised concerns about licensing and safety.

Three of the 12 women enrolled in a study of progesterone to reverse a medication-based abortion required ambulance transport to a hospital for treatment of severe vaginal bleeding.

Several states require doctors who perform medical abortions to tell their patients the procedure can be "reversed" with progesterone. There's an absence of evidence to support that contention.

Women outnumber men in obstetrics and gynecology residencies and medical practices in the U.S. Heads of training programs now wonder if they should go out of their way to recruit more men.

Overall rates of the surgical snip have declined nationally in the past decade. But, despite advice, some hospitals and certain doctors still routinely cut the vagina to ease a baby's birth.

Facilities for delivering babies are expensive to run and hard to staff. But when small rural hospitals close their birthing units, pregnant women must travel much farther for care.