
Evidence is clear that air pollution is linked to higher rates of miscarriages, pregnancy complications and stillbirths, affecting women’s reproductive health. But public health experts say that air pollution’s impact on women's health is not getting the attention it needs.

Early puberty cases have surged during covid, doctors say
A mother in Mumbai noticed that her eight-year-old daughter seemed to be developing breasts. Then came bloodstains on her clothes. The little girl had gotten her first period. Did the pandemic push the child into puberty? Doctors around the world blame the pandemic for a surge in early puberty?

Analysis: Where democracy falters, so do reproductive rights
Reproductive rights don’t exist in a vacuum: They are inextricably linked to democratic institutions, with threats to one reinforcing threats to the other. As countries like Poland, Brazil, Hungary, and the United States face threats to their democracies, so do the women of those countries face threats to their reproductive rights.

DA won’t drop charges against Manhattan woman charged with murder who says she acted in self-defense
Tracy McCarter won a small concession from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Monday in a case alleging she murdered her estranged husband. But the DA’s office stopped short of dropping a murder charge for an act she says was in self-defense.

Do police help or hurt domestic violence survivors? New York City council members take a stand
Tiffany Cabán and Mercedes Narcisse plunge New York City’s legislature into a fierce debate dividing domestic violence advocates about the role of law enforcement in getting help for survivors.

Afghanistan’s new government imposes discriminatory restrictions on healthcare
A new requirement from the Taliban— that women be accompanied by a male chaperone when seeking healthcare—is preventing many Afghan women from getting the treatment they need at a time when the country is facing a severe economic crisis, food insecurity and a massive spike in COVID-19 cases.

The South’s abortion battle has a new front: telemedicine
A new bill making its way through the Georgia statehouse would criminalize access to abortion pills by telemedicine — a common, safe, easy way to end early pregnancies that the federal government first allowed last year.

Women victimized by Boko Haram forced to choose peace over justice
Boko Haram militants are surrendering to the Nigerian government as part of a rehabilitation program. But the women they once tortured are demanding justice too.

‘Every shift, we’re just barely making it’: What nurses want us to know about the South’s COVID crisis
The pandemic didn’t create the nursing plight in the South, but burnout and low pay have made it worse.

In rural India, stricken by pandemic, necessity of invention fills in for the state: Reporter’s Notebook
A short news clip about the mysterious deaths of two women in a home they shared with their family took reporter Puja Changoiwala on a journey through a COVID-ravaged landscape in rural India.

In the Sundarban, climate change has an unlikely effect — on child sex-trafficking
Child trafficking is on the rise in one of the most climate vulnerable places on earth—revealing blind spots in climate policy, experts tell contributor Ritwika Mitra.

Why are Latina moms in New York reporting such high levels of anxiety and depression?
The pandemic’s emotional strains are falling especially heavy on communities hit hardest by COVID, unemployment and child care challenges.

COVID ‘crisis moment’ for families with children in NYC pre-K and 3K programs
Ten-day quarantines are forcing families to keep young kids home, causing chaos for those in need of child care — regardless of negative COVID test results.

It’s not just Texas and Mississippi: Abortion access is in jeopardy across the Deep South
As all eyes turn to the landmark case before the Supreme Court, advocates in the South say they’ve been sounding the alarm on access for years.

Mysterious deaths of mother, daughter lay bare neglect of rural healthcare in India
The deaths of a village elder and her daughter during India's second COVID-19 wave raise important questions about lapses in the Indian government’s pandemic response.

Dispatches from Afghanistan: She attended a protest. Then the Taliban showed up at her door
An Afghan woman is attacked by a Taliban soldier during a protest. Then one shows up at her door the next day. Now she must flee.

The loneliest lactation consultant in the world
Pakistan has 50 million women of childbearing age and only one globally certified person to help them feed their newborns.

Unsafe, Unsanitary Conditions Plague Child Care Centers at NYC Public Housing: Operators
Providers say they shoulder costs for heating and repairs — and have concerns for the children in their care. Some 400 child care centers are housed in buildings operated by New York City Housing Authority,…