More than one in 20 pregnant women severely obese

NHS is ill-equipped to cope with heavier mothers, increased health risks and higher likelihood of stillbirths

Maternity care improving – but more needs to be done

Most mothers happy with maternity care, but NHS must improve support during labour, birth and antenatal period, says watchdog

There should be more controlled smoking zones, argues Richard White

Post your questions about healthcare options here for Roger Taylor, Dr Foster's director of research, to answer

By the time women come to see me they are pretty desperate. One had had 21 miscarriages

Barbara Ellen: A new report on caesarean births makes some telling points

Biggest recipients of MoD money were companies behind large weapons, engineering and construction

Cathy Warwick accuses government of backtracking on pre-election pledge to hire 3,000 more NHS midwives

The combination of staff cuts, a 19% increase in births and more complex pregnancies has put maternity units under pressure

Plan aims to cut UK's rate of infection among young, who experts say are often too embarrassed to visit GP