More Women Treating Cancer While Pregnant

As women delay childbirth until they're older, doctors are seeing more cases of moms-to-be with cancer. About in 1 in 1,000 pregnant women are diagnosed with the disease—that's about 3,500 each year, reports MSNBC. With the increase comes changing attitudes about treatment: No longer is terminating the pregnancy the automatic option. More doctors are treating the cancer with surgery and even chemo.

“You treat them the same,” says a professor of obstetrics at New Jersey's Cooper University Hospital who created a national registry of cases. “You do what would be indicated if she were not pregnant.” The notion can be a jolt to women, notes MSNBC. “I had given up caffeine, I was trying to eat really organic food and then I was going to do chemo?’” says one mom who underwent a three-week dosage. "It’s so psychologically hard to reconcile putting poison in your body." She's due later this month, and the latest ultrasound shows baby to be doing fine. Read the full article here. (More women's health stories.)