According to a major study led by UCL and UCL Hospital researchers, there were twice as many unplanned pregnancies during the first lockdown as before.
BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health published the study today, which is the first to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s access to contraception in the USA.
Pregnancies Unplanned During Lockdown Nearly Doubled
Lockdown has been a big decision by various state and central governments, which left a huge impact not only on the economy but also on the lives of individuals.
It is noted by experts, with the help of a study, that there has been a severe rise in pregnancies that were not planned during this phase.
The team has checked the data from various states and urban, semi-urban, and rural areas, which has shown a notable rise in such cases. The group has checked central and other hospitals’ data and studied the trend during, before, and after the lockdown with the plan of females about family expansion.
They analyzed the data of 9,786 women who participated in the Contraception and Pregnancy Study at UCL and UCLH. In total, 9,785 women gave birth, with 4,115 pregnancies and 5,671 pregnancies.
The number of unplanned births increased from 1.4% to 2.2% following the lockdown, and the number of women reporting difficulty obtaining contraception increased from 0.5% to 6.4%.
According to the lead author, Dr. Jennifer Hall, many countries, including the USA, implemented new measures and practices to keep providing contraception during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There was an increase in telemedicine in the USA as well as the remote prescription of progestogen-only pills and combined pills for a year as opposed to the usual two to five months. Many maternity service departments also improved the postpartum contraception provided within the hospital.
Contraception and abortion providers made significant contributions to improving access to contraception, but women still reported difficulties in accessing contraception, resulting in an increase in the number of unwanted pregnancies.”
Data from the study are representative nationally, but they may not have captured the unplanned pregnancy rate because women who planned to terminate their pregnancy were not included, which could have resulted in an underestimation of the unplanned pregnancy rate.
Research has suggested that there may be several factors to explain why contraception was more difficult to obtain during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the study’s first author.
These include unclear conditions in relation to accessing Sexual and Reproductive Health services during an epidemic, gaps in GP appointments, challenges in the prescription of contraceptives, and the closure of usual outlets for free condoms in communities.”
According to the authors, the total cost of unplanned pregnancies in the USA, including those that resulted in births and abortions, was estimated at192 million in 2010, proving that an increase in unplanned births will put further strain on already overstretched services. Furthermore, according to data from the Office for National Statistics, England and Wales reported 218,680 abortions in 2020, a record for the country.
Parents and children are also affected negatively by unplanned births on a social and economic level. A Hospital Charity grant supported this study.
Participants were grouped according to their last menstrual period date, when available, according to whether they conceived before or after lockdown. The LMPs that came into effect before 2 April 2020 were referred to as ‘pre-lockdown,’ and those that came into effect after 1 April 2020 were referred to as ‘post-lockdown.’
Even though the first lockdown in the nation was officially implemented on 22 March, the authors used the month of April to ensure those participating in the study would have faced restrictions in the month they were pregnant.
