U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women. In a 58-second video posted on the social media site X, Kennedy said he removed COVID-19 shots from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations for those groups. No one from the CDC was in the video. U.S. health officials, following recommendations by infectious disease experts, have been urging annual COVID-19 boosters for all Americans ages 6 months and older. A CDC scientific advisory panel is set to meets in June and will consider recommending vaccination for high-risk groups but still giving lower-risk people the choice in getting a shot. But Kennedy decided not to wait.

The Georgia Supreme Court has halted a ruling striking down the state's near-ban on abortions while the state appeals. The law that a judge found unconstitutional bans abortions beyond about six weeks of pregnancy, which is before many women realize they're pregnant. Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney ruled that Georgians' constitutional right to privacy includes the right to make personal healthcare decisions. McBurney's decision restored a state law law allowing abortions until viability, roughly 22 to 24 weeks into a pregnancy. The high court suspended that ruling on Monday while it considers the state attorney general's appeal.

A new study offers the first detailed map of the human brain throughout and after pregnancy. It was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience on Monday. The study looks at one woman's brain but kicks off a large international research project that aims to scan the brains of hundreds and could one day provide clues about disorders like postpartum depression. Researchers say the transition to motherhood affected nearly every part of the brain. More than 80% of the regions they studied had reductions in the volume of gray matter, where thinking takes place. Researchers said this probably reflects the fine-tuning of networks of interconnected nerve cells.

 More than 100 pregnant women in medical distress who sought help from emergency rooms have been turned away or negligently treated since 2022. That's according to an Associated Press analysis of federal hospital investigations. In Texas, where doctors face up to 99 years in prison if convicted of performing an illegal abortion, medical experts worry the law is complicating decision-making around emergency care for pregnant women. The latest cases come from two women who say they were not treated for dangerous ectopic pregnancies when they sought help at two different emergency rooms in Texas. Both women lost parts of their reproductive system when the ectopic pregnancies ruptured.

A new poll finds that a solid majority of Americans oppose a federal abortion ban and that a rising number appear to support access to abortions for any reason. The findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey highlight a politically perilous situation for candidates who oppose abortion rights as the November election draws closer. Around six in ten Americans think a person should be able to obtain a legal abortion in their state for any reason, underscoring that views toward abortion may be getting more permissive in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade two years ago.

At least one in 20 people who are pregnant develop a scary complication called preeclampsia, a high blood pressure disorder that kills 70,000 women and 500,000 babies worldwide every year. New blood tests may help doctors predict and manage the condition. One test is designed to be performed between 11 and 14 weeks gestation. Two others are used in the second and third trimesters on hospitalized patients to assess whether they are at risk for severe preeclampsia within a couple of weeks.