COVID-19 could trigger a ‘baby boom’

NEW YORK: The Covid-19 pandemic may trigger a ‘baby boom’ because hundreds of thousands of women have lost access to contraceptives and abortion services since the life-threatening disease first emerged, foreign media reported.

Data crunched by Marie Stopes International revealed 1.9million fewer women used their services across the world between January and June compared to last year.

The report predicted that there will be 900,000 unintended pregnancies as a result of the disruption to reproductive health services

The report by the MSI, one of the largest providers of reproductive health services, mirrors a warning from the World Health Organization earlier this month.

Two-thirds of 103 countries reported reproductive health services were disrupted between May and July, according to the WHO. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has said the world could see as many as 7million unintended pregnancies as a result.

Throughout history, spikes in deaths because of war, disease or famine have been followed by a wave of pregnancies as countries get back to normal.

After World War II, the end of hardship worldwide led to celebration among couples who may have been torn apart for years.

But any up-tick in pregnancies during Covid-19 is likely to be down to the disruption to reproductive health services.

A similar spike was seen in West Africa following the Ebola crisis in 2014, which was the largest outbreak of that disease since it was discovered in the seventies.

MSI’s report also predicted there will also be 1.5million unsafe abortions and more than 3,000 maternal deaths.

Discussing the estimates, Dr Clare Wenham, an expert in global health policy at the London School of Economics, said it was ‘predictable’.

She told The Daily Telegraph: ‘We saw it with the Ebola outbreak, we saw it with the Zika outbreak.

‘And so governments could have done something to prevent this situation had they stopped to think about reproductive health issues.’

Strict lockdowns which saw health services prioritise coronavirus care contributed to a reduction in access to reproductive healthcare and shortages of contraception.

In the US several states — Texas, Utah, Idaho and Alabama — classified abortion as a non-essential medical service so they couldn’t be accessed during the coronavirus pandemic.

General fears from the public about getting infected are also believed to have added to the drop in women getting healthcare.

And early on in the pandemic, the United Nations warned of a ‘devastating’ condom shortage after coronavirus lockdowns forced major producers to close factories.

While the British Pregnancy Advisory Service told MailOnline that women were ‘struggling to access contraception’ during the height of the outbreak.