Preterm birth

Purvi Patel is taken into custody after being sentenced to 20 years in prison for feticide and neglect of a dependent on Monday, March 30, 2015, at the St. Joseph County Courthouse in South Bend, Ind.

Six disturbing medical issues in the case of Purvi Patel, and one hopeful one

Medicine

Purvi Patel was convicted of feticide in Indiana. Her case has raised concerns that it could become a precedent to support more convictions of women who lose their pregnancies or self-abort. But the case also shows how complex pregnancy and gestation really are — and how little we in the US want to talk about unexpected outcomes.

Irma Vásquez, far right, during a Centering Pregnancy session at San Francisco's Homeless Prenatal Program, which collaborates with San Francisco General Hospital and offers space for the meetings.

For some, prenatal care is a community affair

Health & Medicine
The World

Tough questions, hard answers: when babies are born too soon

Health & Medicine