The moment the US Supreme Court released its decision overruling Roe v. Wade, pretty much everyone who closely follows constitutional law wondered which rights would be next on the chopping block. Justice Clarence Thomas stoked these fears with a concurring opinion calling for the Court to “reconsider” the rights to contraception, marriage for same-sex couples, and the right to choose who you have sex with (and whether those sexual partners share your gender). Justice Brett Kavanaugh, meanwhile, published his own concurrence claiming many of these rights were safe.

An Alabama Supreme Court decision legally recognizing frozen embryos as children has reignited concerns and confusion about the future of fertility treatments including in vitro fertilization, with both sides recognizing the broader impact of the case.

The court on Friday ruled that frozen embryos — which are used in IVF — are considered unborn children. Alabama voters amended their state constitution in 2018 to give personhood rights to fetuses, and the court decision clarified that that language extends to frozen embryos.

In a landmark decision, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday in favor of protecting embryonic human life from wrongful death.

Embryos are created routinely through in vitro fertilization, a process by which ova are fertilized with sperm in a laboratory rather than in a woman’s body.

The process of creating and cryopreserving embryos can be dangerous for embryonic children, who often are destroyed intentionally or through neglect.

Pope Francis has called for a universal ban on surrogacy, calling the practice “deplorable” in a speech in Vatican City on Monday.

“I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs,” the Pope said.

“A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract.”

Pope Francis said that he hopes that the international community will make efforts to “prohibit this practice universally.”

Pregnancy puts people at elevated risk of severe COVID-19. Young babies also are particularly vulnerable to hospitalization from COVID-19. Maternal vaccination reduces these risks.

The number of newborns with syphilis in the United States surged more than 10-fold in the last decade, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Tuesday.

The agency said 3,761 cases were recorded in 2022, the highest in over 30 years, up from 334 cases in 2012. The 2022 cases included 231 stillbirths and 51 infant deaths.

Nine out of 10 cases might have been prevented with timely testing and treatment during pregnancy, said Laura Bachmann, chief medical officer in CDC's Division of STD Prevention.

Japan's prime minister says his country is on the brink of not being able to function as a society because of its falling birth rate.

Fumio Kishida said it was a case of "now or never."

Japan - population 125 million - is estimated to have had fewer than 800,000 births last year. In the 1970s, that figure was more than two million.

Birth rates are slowing in many countries, including Japan's neighbours.

An image shared on Facebook purportedly shows a new Kentucky state legislature bill requiring all women “of child-bearing age” to submit signed and notarized monthly statements confirming whether or not they are pregnant.

Verdict: False

The bill was introduced as satire in 2019 and never seriously considered by the state legislature.

Fact Check:

In the final days of Missouri’s legislative session in May 2019, lawmakers turned their focus to a bill that would outlaw abortion in the state if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The abortion ban passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Mike Parson remains in limbo, at least for now. A leaked draft opinion suggests the high court is preparing to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling, which would trigger bans in Missouri and about a dozen other states.

Police are investigating vandalism at a faith-based pregnancy center just blocks from the U.S. Capitol.

Washington Metro Police Department officers responded Friday morning to reports of damaged property after vandals splattered red paint on the front door of the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center and spray-painted “JANE SAYS” and “REVENGE” onto the building.

The investigation is ongoing as of Saturday morning.