The survey wasn't designed to determine causes but is useful in assembling a "more complete picture of autism" and in helping communities plan services for children, said Coleen Boyle, director of the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.

WSJ: Autism Diagnoses Up Sharply

Pregnant women who never got one of those shots should get one dose after giving birth, before leaving the hospital or birthing center, the CDC said.

CNN: Vaccination role unclear in whooping cough outbreak

D'Vera Cohn, a senior writer at the Pew Research Center in Washington, said the birth rate, rather than immigration, is the primary driving factor in the Latino boom.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

"Early intervention is key, because brain development starts before birth, " says Dr. Pat Levitt, director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development in Nashville, Tennessee.

CNN: Autism's mysteries remain as numbers grow

In 2011 the Transgender Law Center successfully pushed for passage of legislation ending surgery as a requirement to obtain a new birth certificate in California.

BBC: Transgender Americans take on New York

The artist himself may look out at us just to the left of center, and most scholars agree that his young son, Jorge (identified by the birth date inscribed on his pocket square), points with a didactic gesture to the mystical event in the foreground.

WSJ: El Greco's Masterpiece The Burial of the Count of Orgaz: A Vision of Faith | By Mary Tompkins Lewis

While birth rates for almost all other age groups are at historic lows, according to a 2012 report from the National Center for Health Statistics, the rate for women in their late 30s and early 40s is on the rise.

CNN: Halle Berry joins growing group of older moms