In View of the Times -- Pregnancy Cancellation

"[The pandemic is presenting] serious psychological challenges [that could have consequences for both mothers and babies]."
"We do see changes in brain structure and brain function in kids whose mothers were more depressed or more anxious during pregnancy."
Catherine Lebel, Canada Research Chair, pediatric neuroimaging, University of Calgary

"Many of the conversations we've had in gynecology clinics in patients feeling that, now is not a good time [to plan for a pregnancy]."
"But it remains to be seen how long [a] period [women] are willing to wait."
"[With no national statutory paid maternity leave, a lack of access to prescription drugs for children] there are different cost pressures on American families [as compared to advantaged Canadian families with all these issues in place]."
"We don't think this will change the total number of children, or the decision to have children in the long run."
"I think more people are thinking now, 'there's never going to be a good time'. And for that reason they're reverting back to their original plans."
"The truth is to be seen. But economics is never part of the conversation when I talk with patients. [Their focus is on more existential issues], like raising their child to be a good person, raising a child that may have a lower quality of life than what we're used to."
Dr.Dustin Costescu, family planning specialist, McMaster University, Hamilton

"Purposefully reduced volumes aside, from what I understand, we are all very busy and in fact have patients on waiting lists wanting to start their cycles."
Eileen Mahon, president, Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society

"We are seeing a slight reduction in accessing abortion."
"We actually think it's a bit more reflective of people making different choices with regard to their sexual behaviour -- potentially having less sex, basically, because of the pandemic." 
Laura Neidhart, Action Canada for Sexual Health & Rights

Far from an anticipated post-COVID-19 baby boom, European fertility plans could actually be on the slide. /Seth Wenig/AP

Living in suddenly uncertain and most certainly 'exceptional' times, it seemed a timely idea to question people whether the current situation is impacting on child-bearing expectations. Which led Catherine Lebel with her investigative team to launch an online survey of pregnant women to question them about their emotions and concerns; how were they managing under these conditions while pregnant? Did they fear for their lives, feel in danger given the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus? Feel concern over their baby's future?

Originally the target was to recruit 1,200 women and ask for their opinion, but then two thousand signed on in a two-week period in April. At the present time, over 6,000 women responded, a nice large pool from which to extract the responses the researchers were looking for to be able to compile study results that would represent how the majority of pregnant women might be feeling about themselves and their unborn babies during this time of COVID-19.



What they discovered was high rates of anxiety and depression, in volumes three to four times over what might normally be seen in pregnancy. Many women responded they felt "quite a bit", or very much concerned over what the virus might produce in their fetus. Data, on the other hand, currently suggests that pregnant women are no more susceptible to serious COVID-19 infection than the average woman who is not pregnant. No evidence has arisen, much less a signal that COVID causes birth defects.

Among those in the study many worried the care they were being given prenatally was inadequate to the occasion; many others felt they were falling short of the needed sleep patterning for optimum health. The less they were given to sound sleep, the more deep the level of their anxiety and depression. The survey's intent was to reach women in pregnancy to enable understanding of what might aid in buffering anxiety and depression in the face of this unique stressor.

That answer was: receiving firm support from partners, family and friends, along with longer sleeping hours "so we're not asking any questions about decisions to conceive or have children", remarked Dr. Lebel. On the other hand, that very anxiety level and uncertainty has given many pause to wonder whether they should in fact become pregnant to begin with. American economists are forecasting a coming COVID-19 "baby bust", auguring that up to a half-million fewer children would be born in the U.S.

Carles Navarro Parcerisas / EyeEm via Getty Images

Infants born during the pandemic will be few and far in between.

That belies the light-hearted initial response to the lockdowns when humour went the rounds of boredom leading to more frequent sex and nine months hence there would be a bumper crop of newborns, mentioned in a report by the Brookings Institute in Washington. No one perhaps expected the scale and depth of the disastrous pandemic and its outcome, reaching into every sphere of life.

For every one percent rise in joblessness there is an associated decrease in birthrates as revealed by an analysis of the Great Recession and the 1918 Spanish Flu, which both led to large birth declines in the United States, suggesting a drop there on the order of 300,000 to 500,000 births in the coming year. "We expect that many of these births will not just be delayed -- but will never happen. There will be a COVID-19 baby bust", the authors of the article in the Brookings report asserted.

"Home-schooling makes it difficult and stressful to take care of kids right now, and most likely stressful to contemplate expanding a family", observed Roberta Begignski, a post-doctoral fellow at Western University's Exercise and Pregnancy Lab. in Canada. At the same time, for many women the reproduction window is steadily closing, and women tend to think "life is short and we're not getting any younger", she added.

Anecdotal reports from gynaecologists across Canada and the United States see reports of fewer ectopics "which would suggest there are fewer people having pregnancies", added Dr.Costesco where one of the first signals in an effort to estimate future birthing trends relates to early pregnancy such as ectopic pregnancies where a fertilized egg implants and grows outside the uterus. Abortion volume represents yet another signal.

It was initially felt there might erupt an uptick in abortion demand, but demand has dropped somewhat. Teens and university students, isolated at home with parents have had little opportunity to gather in their usual co-ed numbers at social events. That is set to change with the reduced lockdowns and resulting openings. And while obstetric clinics are receiving referrals for women due in December and January, a reduction in normal volumes hasn't been noticed.

(Kristina Paukshtite / pexels.com)