Fifty years of the pill

Since it was introduced in 1960, the pill has been blamed for promiscuity, hideous side-effects and even destroying marriage. But the world's most popular oral contraceptive has also liberated millions of women. Is it time we showed our gratitude?

A dad from day one

Khaled Diab: No argument against a father's presence in the delivery room will convince me that I should not have witnessed my son's birth

Women need choice, not caesareans

Belinda Phipps: Figures show the NHS's Maternity Matters programme is failing. Empowered mothers would choose fewer medicalised births

The beatnik turned natural birth expert

Viv Groskop meets a 'far-out' midwife who has become a guru to celebrities. But is delivering a breech baby feet first without pain relief really a good idea?

‘I felt totally out of control’

Many women who have an emergency caesarean are so shocked that they demand an elective section next time. Joanna Moorhead hears how hospitals are trying to reverse this trend

Painful advice on giving birth

Ros Taylor: The NCT taught my husband to rub my back, but risks making many women feel a failure for not doing 'natural' childbirth