Findings show almost half of all pregnancies in Australia are unintended, highlighting the need to address this public health challenge.
New findings from The Impact of Unintended Pregnancy report, released 28 September 2022, has revealed the broad social and economic impacts of unintended pregnancy in Australia, with an astounding $7.2 billion of direct and indirect costs incurred in 2020.
That year, 197,234 or 40% of all pregnancies in Australia were unintended – categorised as either mistimed, when pregnancy occurs earlier or later than desired, or unwanted, when pregnancy occurs when no or no more children are desired – putting significant financial pressure on individuals, their families, and communities.
In Australia, the average cost of each unintended pregnancy was $36,384, with a total cost of $7.2 billion in 2020 that was carried by Government (37%), women (56%), carers (5%) and employers (3%).
Direct costs included expenses incurred due to miscarriages ($15 million), stillbirths ($21 million), abortions ($72 million), and live births ($2.0 billion) up to 12 months post-pregnancy, with indirect costs assigned to non-healthcare related expenses such as lost wages and income and government parenting support payments.
Ms Irene Deltetto, the Director of Healthcare Strategy and Innovation at Health Technology Analysts, which prepared the report on behalf of Organon, explained that even though the outcomes experienced were the same for both intended and unintended pregnancies – as well as the costs associated with them – what changed was their distribution.
“One clear example is abortion: 83% of women experiencing an unwanted pregnancy decide that they are unable or unwilling to bring the pregnancy to term, and we would expect this number to be significantly lower for intended pregnancies,” Ms Deltetto said.
“This difference can though be observed also for outcomes such as miscarriages because we know planned pregnancies are associated with maternal and child health due to, amongst other elements, better pre-pregnancy care.”
She pointed out that along with these direct and indirect impacts, unintended pregnancy may also result in an array of downstream societal impacts, which were not included in this analysis.
“An unintended pregnancy is also a risk factor for poor maternal mental health including depression, stress, and life satisfaction,” Ms Deltetto said.
“Ultimately the message of this of this report is that adequate family planning support is still lacking in Australia, and policies should focus on the current unmet needs, because despite marked advances in the availability of contraceptive options, unintended pregnancies remain an event experienced by a significant proportion of women in Australia.”
The report showed that the prevalence of unintended pregnancy could primarily be attributed to geographic isolation and lack of access to contraception and abortion services, with the rate of unintended pregnancy also disproportionately higher amongst First Nations women, and those who were socioeconomically disadvantaged.
Professor Danielle Mazza, Director of SPHERE, Centre of Research Excellence in Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health in Primary Care, said that women need to be supported to make informed decisions about contraception priorities and preferences which work for their lifestyle, and highlighted the need for a national sexual and reproductive health strategy.
“Unintended pregnancy can happen at any stage of life. It is often misunderstood and stigmatised, and certainly not discussed openly. Most people think unintended pregnancy only impacts the woman or couple alone. However, it is a critical public health challenge that has a huge impact on society and imposes significant financial and social costs,” Professor Mazza said.
“We need to address unintended pregnancy by ensuring women have access to the right information to make informed decisions about contraception and pregnancy.”
Earlier research found that 73% of women who experience an unplanned pregnancy were using contraception, with the oral contraceptive pill the most frequently cited (39%), highlighting the importance of assessing the suitability of contraceptive methods to a person’s own needs.
“Concerningly, we were not able to identify any comprehensive research on unintended pregnancies in Australia published prior to the two key data sources used in this report (Taft 2018 and Bearak 2020), and these did not assess change over time,” Ms Deltetto said.
“This highlights the need for a national data collection system, because reducing the number of unintended pregnancies is frequently stated as a priority policy goal for many Governments and organisations focussed on reproductive health but this is only possible if the extent of the problem is adequately mapped and understood, and if the changes can be tracked over time.”
For further information about the report, visit: https://www.organon.com/australia/reports/