Thiruvananthapuram, June 28 (IANS) Marital problems between parents is the primary reason for pregnancy among unmarried women and adolescent girls, a study conducted in three state-run medical colleges in Kerala has revealed. Sheelamoni, head of the department of gynecology at the Alappuzha Medical College, analysed 181 cases in three medical college hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam and Kozhikode where unmarried women below 24 years underwent abortions. One was categorised as below 19 years, where 91 cases was studied, and another of 90 cases where the girls were aged above 19 years,’ the doctor told reporters Saturday. The study, conducted between october 2004 and July 2006, has found that the majority of these girls hailed from lower and middle class families. But Sheelamoni said this was not the entire picture as higher income families approach private hospitals, where no such documentation takes place. The eldest son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, Prince William is a press favorite-photogenic with a graceful public persona. read more

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A former college student whose newborn baby was found dead in a trash bin was sentenced today to the 30 days she already spent in jail and was ordered to take monthly pregnancy tests for five years. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy told Ashcraft that her behavior was “absolutely unforgivable” and she did not want a “similar situation” to occur. Under a plea agreement, Ashcraft was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 730 days of electronic monitoring that she already served. The judge also gave her five years of probation and ordered Ashcraft to undergo counseling. In addition, the judge ordered that every month during her probation, Ashcraft must bring “an unopened, unused pregnancy test” to the probation department for testing and if she becomes pregnant she must seek prenatal care. read more

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Pregnant women who receive treatment for substance abuse early in their pregnancy can achieve the same health outcomes as pregnant women with no substance abuse, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published online in the Journal of Perinatology . The study, which is the largest to date, examined 49,985 women in Kaiser Permanente’s prenatal care program and found that integrating substance abuse screening and treatment into routine prenatal care helped pregnant women achieve similar health outcomes as women who were not using cigarettes, alcohol or other drugs. The women who went through the Early Start program had the same statistical risks of stillborn, preterm delivery, placental abruption as the control group of women who did not use any cigarettes, alcohol or drugs during their pregnancy. My message to all pregnant women, as well as women who are trying to conceive, is to stop all alcohol, cigarette and drug use. The program, which is in place in 40 Kaiser Permanente outpatient obstetric clinics in Northern California and being rolled out in other Kaiser Permanente facilities nationwide, screens nearly 40,000 women annually. read more

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