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The rate at which American women are dying from causes related to pregnancy or childbirth is on par with Iran, China, and some nations that made up the Soviet bloc. The difference is that in those countries, the prognosis is for improvement. In America, it’s not. The disturbing trend is a counterpoint to global progress on healthy childbirth, according to a comprehensive new study. More than 275,000 women died worldwide last year in pregnancy, childbirth, or complications from it, most of the deaths preventable. In the U.S. these deaths have increased about 2.7 percent a year since 2000, to 26.4 deaths for every 100,000 live births, or 1,063 total, last year. (Roston, 10/6)

Houston-based Legacy Community Health Services, a federally qualified health center, is trying hard to fight the Zika virus. It’s screening pregnant women and following federal guidelines to test people at risk. But despite best efforts, there’s a problem, says Legacy’s chief medical officer, Dr. Ann Barnes. Women who could be infected usually have to wait as long as a month to know if their pregnancy is at risk. That’s the turnaround time from the state public health lab, where blood samples are sent for testing. (Luthra, 10/7)

A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of three former Valencia College students who alleged their constitutional rights were violated in a training program that included students performing invasive ultrasound procedures on each other. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned a lower-court judge's decision to dismiss the case. The panel's ruling sent the case back to the lower court, with the dispute focused on whether the former students' First Amendment rights were violated and whether two of them were subjected to unconstitutional searches. (10/7)

Anti-abortion protesters through the nationwide 40 Days for Life campaign made a stop at the Planned Parenthood in Mount Auburn Thursday evening. The 40 Days for Life vigil, prayer and rally campaign bus tour moving through 50 states – with stops at 125 cities in 40 days – desires to put an end to the "abortion crisis," according to a news release. Steve Karlen, the director of the North American campaigns, said on a podium by the bus that this is the largest mobilization of anti-abortion demonstrators in history. (Milam, 10/6)