Acupuncture relieves back and pelvic pain during pregnancy, study suggests

Analysis shows significant benefits with no major side-effects for mother or baby but more trials needed ‘to confirm results’• [Update: the study on which this article reports was later withdrawn by the BMJ owing to ‘fundamental flaws’ in the research – see footnote]

‘I’m investing some hope’: four women on their decision to freeze their eggs

After scientists cautioned against egg freezing as an ‘insurance policy’, we hear what drives women to do it

Indoor wood fires ‘dangerous’ for some pregnant women

Study finds link between smoke-related deaths and eclampsia, helping explain worse maternal health

Fertility treatment and work are often incompatible – employers need to step up

I know from experience how hard the balancing act can be. It’s in organisations’ interests to provide proper support, says fertility consultant Zeynep Gurtin

Unlocking the mystery of placental disorders and recurrent stillbirths

The winning essay in the Max Perutz science writing award 2022, published below, was written by Emily Cornish, a research training fellow and PhD candidate at University College London

‘Miracle’ baby opens debate over possible use of centuries-old sperm

Technology allows sperm to be frozen longer than legal 50-year limit but poses medical and ethical questions

Maternity care is not on a journey of obvious improvement

History suggests that reports exposing NHS failings do not banish the culture that harms babies and mothers

‘I was in a horror film, unsafe. And the person I was in danger from was me’: the truth about severe postpartum anxiety

Days after my baby was born, I was overwhelmed by raw terror. Soon, my son and I were living in a specialist unit. This is what I learned

Toxic air pollution particles found in lungs and brains of unborn babies

Particles breathed by mothers pass to their vulnerable foetuses, with potentially lifelong consequences

‘We are expected to be OK with not having children’: how gay parenthood through surrogacy became a battleground

In New York, a gay couple fighting to make their insurers pay for fertility treatment have found themselves in the middle of a culture war. What happens when the right to parenthood involves someone else’s body?

OurChemist

Our Chemist – Health