With constrained or no access to public or private termination of pregnancy, disturbance in the supply chain of medications, and taboo around premature births, many women either had to opt for dangerous methods or proceed with the pregnancy during the COVID-19 lockdown.
While nationwide lockdown was unavoidable and was a wise decision to contain the spread of the virus, there is a need to address the possibility of an unintended baby boom among vulnerable groups. With most countries following nationwide lockdown or stay at home orders due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, there has been a debate on a possible unintended baby boom across the world.
Although many demographers from western countries believe it is unlikely to occur due to economic, psychological, household stress and shortage of healthcare workers, a report by UNFPA projects that 47 million women in low and middle-income countries are unable to use modern contraceptives, leading to seven million unintended pregnancies in the coming months.
In a country like ours, we cannot reject the outright possibility of a baby boom since the lockdown continued for more than three months. Though this may not be anticipated in urban India due to anxiety, awareness, and access to contraceptives, there was a higher possibility of a spurt in the birth of children in rural India, particularly in populous and high fertility states.
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As a fallout of nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19, over 2 crore couples in the country have been deprived of availing contraceptives. This is expected to result in around 23 lakh unintended pregnancies across the nation
Millions of women in India were left with no option, but either to continue with an unintended pregnancy or to go for unsafe abortions during the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19, which left healthcare providers and hospital staff with little time for non-COVID patients, says a study carried out by Ipas Development Foundation (IDF), an organisation working towards strengthening access to safe abortions in India.
Unwanted pregnancy is a tremendous public health concern in India that leads to unsafe abortions and high maternal mortality. It puts both mother and child at risk. Children born due to unintended pregnancy may suffer from malnutrition, negligence, illness, and even death. At the societal level, it has far-reaching socio-economic implications.
The availability of family planning methods should be considered as an essential service and delivered in rural India. It is also important to train health workers to provide consultation on family planning services by alternative modes such as digital tools, home visits, mobile clinics, etc. At the same time, incentives may be provided to the health workers for continuing maternal and child health services.
