Reproduction and Contraception

After seven years trying for a family, Marni Cochrane was more than halfway through her first pregnancy with identical twin girls when they were diagnosed with a rare and potentially life-threatening medical condition.

Vaginal birth after a previous caesarean shouldn't be a battle, but making it happen in Australia can be exhausting for some expectant parents.

The ABC has heard from several women who gave birth at home after a negative hospital experience, as part of its Birth Project investigation. It comes as a Senate inquiry into birth trauma was recently launched in NSW.

Menopause is technically the single day 12 months after your last period. But perimenopause can last years. Here's what to look for and when to get help, writes Erin Molan.

Democrats win control of both legislative chambers in Virginia, while in deep-red Kentucky, Democratic governor Andy Beshear is re-elected to a second four-year term.

Ashwin Ramachandran is on a mission to help increase access to fertility tests for men and start more conversations about male infertility.

For years, sperm donors believed their identity would remain secret, but the explosion of online DNA databases changed everything, writes Ian Smith.

Australian workplaces could be losing women at the peak of their careers due to a lack of policy on menopause and its effects.

About a quarter of women will regularly deal with heavy menstrual bleeding but most of them don't seek help, new survey data shows. Doctors say it doesn't have to be that way.

Poppy and Michael are believed to be one of only about 10 confirmed cases in the world of what are known as superfetation twins — where one is conceived while the mother is already pregnant. 

An Australian woman caught up in a surrogacy scandal in Greece has spoken about her emotional ordeal as she desperately fights to be allowed to keep her baby. 

Stigmatising experiences involving shame and guilt are being studied to improve maternity care and empower women.

A notice on Changshan county's official WeChat account, said the reward was to promote "age-appropriate marriage and child-bearing" for first marriages, the latest measure to incentivise young people to get married amid concern over a declining birth rate.

Specialists are calling on the Victorian government to consider legalising financial remuneration for sperm donors in a bid to address a lack of supply.

A couple who had their embryos destroyed in a bacteria breach at a Sydney fertility clinic say they have not received an apology or offers of compensation.

Rules about who can access posthumous sperm retrieval are ethically complex. It doesn't help that, across Australia, they're also inconsistent.

Telehealth is revolutionising medicine in remote areas, but one obstetrician says entrusting the delivery of a baby to "pure luck" in Australia during 2023 "isn't good enough".

There may be times during their menstrual cycle when women with ADHD find it harder to plan, organise and focus their attention. And they may find their ADHD medication doesn't seem to work as well. Here are some insights into why.

An estimated one in 10 GPs currently provide abortion services. Experts warn that unless the federal government steps in to extend telehealth services, more women will miss out on crucial health care.

Every year, more than 300,000 Australians take part in a physical activity than can result in long-term, life-altering physical injuries: childbirth. 

Emma and Adam Deane lost their son Jace at 24 weeks gestation. They're calling for hospital reform so others won't have to endure the same post-birth experience.

Stays in maternity hotels are becoming increasingly popular among Chinese women in Australia, with some new mothers paying up to $50,000 for 26 days.

A long-awaited trial of over-the-counter sales of emergency contraceptives is underway in Japan, but activists worry access to this essential medicine might only be temporary. 

A new public fertility clinic has opened in Victoria's north-west, saving hopeful families hundreds of dollars in accommodation costs and hundreds of kilometres of travel.

The US Food and Drug Administration has cleared Opill to be sold without a prescription, making it the country's first such medication to be moved out from behind the pharmacy counter.