Report reveals the impact of unintended pregnancies

Almost half (40%) of all pregnancies in Australia are unintended, highlighting the need to address this public health challenge, reveals ‘The Impact of Unintended Pregnancy’ report.¹

The report by women’s healthcare company Organon highlights the broad social and economic impacts of unintended pregnancy.¹ An astounding $7.2 billion of direct and indirect costs were incurred in 2020 as a consequence of unintended pregnancies — with 197,234 occurrences recorded in 2020 alone — putting significant financial pressure on individuals, their families, communities and our economy.¹

The report shows this is primarily attributed to geographic isolation and lack of access to contraception and abortion services. Prevalence of unintended pregnancy is also disproportionately higher amongst First Nations women and those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged.¹

An unintended pregnancy is categorised as either mistimed (pregnancy occurs earlier or later than desired) or unwanted (pregnancy occurs when no or no more children are desired), and can result in the raising of the child (52%), termination (31%) or adoption (1%).¹

Professor Danielle Mazza, Director of SPHERE, Centre of Research Excellence in Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health in Primary Care, said, “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. We need to address unintended pregnancy by ensuring women have access to the right information to make informed decisions about contraception and pregnancy,” Mazza said.

In Australia, the average cost of an unintended pregnancy is $36,384 (each time).¹ This totals $7.2 billion in 2020, a cost carried by government (37%), women (56%), carers (5%) and employers (3%).¹ Within the report, direct costs include 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.¹ Indirect costs include non-healthcare related expenses such as lost wages and income and government parenting support payments.¹

Earlier research has found that 73% of women who experience an unplanned pregnancy were using contraception, with the oral contraceptive pill the most frequently cited (39%).ⁱⁱ This highlights the importance of assessing the suitability of contraceptive methods to a person’s own needs.ⁱⁱⁱ

Further, although international evidence demonstrates that effective contraception, such as long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), can reduce the rates of unintended pregnancy, awareness of LARC options in Australia remains low in comparison to other countries.^iv,v,vi To address this barrier, women need to be supported to make informed decisions about contraception priorities, preferences which work for their lifestyle, and the need for a national sexual and reproductive health strategy.¹

Nirelle Tolstoshev, Managing Director of Organon ANZ, said, “At Organon, we are united in our drive to better support the health of women. Through the launch of this report, we aim to progress discussions around unintended pregnancy in Australia. We know more needs to be done to address better health understanding and education in reproductive health and contraception to support women’s empowerment and reduce the impact of unintended pregnancy.”

References

^{[1] Organon and HTAnalysts. Impact of Unintended Pregnancy. 2022. Available at: https://www.organon.com/australia/reports/. Accessed August 2022.}

^{[ii] Coombe, J. et al. Contraceptive use at the time of unintended pregnancy: Findings from the Contraceptive Use, Pregnancy Intention and Decisions study. Australian Family Physician; 2016; 45(11):842-48.}

^{[iii] Taft A, Shankar M, Black K, Maza D, Hussainy S, Lucke J. Unintended and unwanted pregnancy in Australia: a cross-sectional, national random telephone survey of prevalence and outcomes. MJA. 2018;209(9):407-8.}

^{[iv] Winner et al. Effectiveness of Long-Acting Reversible Contraception. N Engl J Med 2012; 366:1998-2007. Available at: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa1110855#:~:text=Long%2Dacting%20reversible%20contraceptive%20methods%2C%20including%20intrauterine%20devices%20(IUDs,which%20rival%20those%20with%20sterilization.}

^{[v] Mazza D, Bateson D, Frearson M, Goldstone P, Kovacs G, Baber R. Current barriers and potential strategies to increase the use of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) to reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies in Australia: An expert roundtable discussion. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 2017;57(2):206-12.}

^{[vi] Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association. Consensus statement. 2017. [cited Available from: https://www.shinesa.org.au/media/2018/03/Consensus_statement_Reducing-Unintended-Pregnancy.pdf.}

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