We don’t know why a mum abandoned her newborn baby. But we do know that the system fails mothers

Amy Gray: As crimes go, abandoning a newborn in a drain is awful. Cases like this are exceedingly rare, but our society’s neglect of mothers makes them possible

Do men really need to feel the pain of childbirth to empathise with women?

Emma Beddington: The pursuit of empathy is all very well, but delivering electric shocks doesn’t necessarily help fathers understand what labour is like

‘I can’t think of a time when it was worse’: US abortion doctors speak out

Curtis and Glenna Boyd have worked in US abortion clinics ever since Roe v Wade made the practice legal in 1973. Forty years on, restricted rights mean they have to practise under FBI protection. Karen McVeigh reports

One in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence from partner

More needs to be done to tackle endemic global violence against women, say papers published in the Lancet

Anaemia epidemic: we are neglecting adolescent girls’ nutrition

Sufferers are more likely to die in childbirth, face debilitating exhaustion and find it harder to learn. How do we combat the global anaemia epidemic?

‘I feel guilty but I hate my body’: a feminist confesses

She’s a campaigner. She counts calories 24/7. Thinking about food takes up more energy than her career. Does Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett have an eating disorder?

Foetal damage caused by alcohol ‘equivalent to attempted manslaughter’

Lawyers pursuing compensation claim on behalf of child, say mother’s heavy drinking constitutes crime of poisoning

Why I can’t wait to be a fat bride

Lindy West: I grew up assuming I would never get married, because marriage was for thin women. What I needed to hear was that that you can be fat and happy and in love

FGM: Ban Ki-moon backs Guardian’s global media campaign

UN chief launches grants initiative in Kenya as part of Guardian-UNFPA push to change how female genital mutilation is reported and perceived

In Your Prime review – India Knight tackles ageing with wit

The 48-year-old author’s guide to the joys and challenges of middle age is like a funny, informative conversation, writes Kate Kellaway