An Indian court on Monday refused a mother's plea to abort a 26-week fetus with a serious heart defect, saying the law does not permit such late-term abortions.

The 31-year-old mother, Niketa Mehta, and her husband Haresh found out after 24 weeks that the fetus had a complete congenital heart blockage and malpositioned arteries that could, doctors told them, require a pacemaker implantation soon after birth

Women diagnosed with diabetes before their pregnancy are at a greater risk of giving birth to a baby with a birth defect or multiple defects than their non-diabetic counterparts, according to a new study.

The study carried out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found diabetic women are three to four times more likely to have a child with single birth defects, while the risk for multiple defects is eightfold

Pregnant women who use the epilepsy drug topiramate alone or in combination with other epilepsy drugs may be at a greater risk of giving birth to children with certain physical defects, British researchers report.

Topiramate, brand name Topamax, is a common anti-seizure medication that is also taken by some migraine patients. Though many similar drugs also increase the risk of birth defects, the incidence of birth defects seen when Topamax was taken with other anti-epileptic drugs was higher than expected

Pregnant women are more likely to suffer from acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or heart attacks, according to a new study.

Researchers believe that a large number of women who delay having children potentially increase the chances of having a heart attack. This condition is not considered common but it puts them at risk of heart attack three to four fold

A new study shows that a man's fertility starts to fall in his mid 30s and it could also be considered a factor in determining the reason for failed conception in couples who are trying to conceive.

Researchers from Paris studied more than 12,000 couples undergoing fertility treatments and the results revealed that pregnancy rates drop and miscarriages increase when the father is older than 40. The findings are being presented Monday at the 24th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona, Spain