Pregnancies are Unwanted
By Nancy Felipe Russo,
Ph.D., Arizona State University and Henry P. David, Ph.D., Transnational
Family Research Institute
Bonding and love between parent
and child is a crucial foundation for family integrity and wholesome
child development. It is sometimes said that parenthood, particularly
motherhood, is a 'natural' condition in which 'there is always
room for one more.' But can all parents learn to love a child
who was unwanted during pregnancy? Further, even if a woman does
love a child born after an unwanted pregnancy, is love ever enough
to ensure wholesome child development? Although it is true that
unwanted pregnancy does not always translate into unwanted births,
research on the development of children who were unwanted during
pregnancy suggests that when women say they cannot adequately
care for a child, it is important to listen to them.
Both unintended and unwanted childbearing
can have negative health, social, and psychological consequences.
Health problems include greater chances for illness and death
for both mother and child. In addition, such childbearing has
been linked with a variety of social problems, including divorce,
poverty, child abuse, and juvenile delinquency. In one study,
unwanted children were found less likely to have had a secure
family life. As adults they were more likely to engage in criminal
behavior, be on welfare, and receive psychiatric services. Another
found that children who were unintended by their mothers had lower
self-esteem than their intended peers 23 years later.
The adverse health consequences
of teenagers' inability to control their childbearing can be particularly
severe. Teenage mothers are more likely to suffer toxemia, anemia,
birth complications, and death. Babies of teenage mothers are
more likely to have low birth weight and suffer birth injury and
neurological defects. Such babies are twice as likely to die in
the first year of life as babies born to mothers who delay childbearing
until after age 20.
Although high?quality prenatal
care can largely prevent the physical health problems of these
children, research has established that their social and psychological
problems persist, partially because the mothers are themselves
from disadvantaged backgrounds, but also due to the lack of future
education and poor employment prospects of teenage mothers. Children
born to teenagers are more likely to have lower achievement scores
and poorer school adjustment and problem behaviors than children
born to older women.
The burden of unintended and unwanted
childbearing often compounds social disadvantage, falling disproportionately
on women who are young, poor, or members of ethnic minority groups.
In 1994, 49 per cent of pregnancies in the U.S. were unintended,
with the highest rates of such pregnancies found in women who
were between 18-24 years of age, poor, unmarried, Black, or Hispanic.
The portrait could be worse: About 54 per cent of those unintended
pregnancies were terminated by abortion. When abortion is legal,
women who are the most motivated to avoid unwanted childbearing
are most likely to seek this option. If they are able to exercise
it, the correlation between unwanted childbearing and negative
outcomes in the remaining population giving birth is reduced (albeit
Access to abortion continues to
play a major role in the prevention of unwanted births around
the world. In developed countries (where average desired family
size is small), of the 28 million pregnancies occurring every
year, an estimated 49 per cent are unplanned; 36 per cent end
in abortion. In developing countries (where average desired family
size is larger), of the 182 million pregnancies occurring every
year, an estimated 36 per cent are unplanned; 20 per cent end
Longitudinal research has found
that when abortion is denied, the resulting children are more
likely to have a variety of social and psychological problems,
even when they are born to adult women who are healthy with intact
marriages and adequate economic resources. A long term study of
children born in 1961-63 to women twice denied abortion for the
same pregnancy and pair matched control children born to women
who did not request abortion showed significant differences, always
in disfavor of the unwanted children. All the children were born
into complete families with similar socioeconomic circumstances.
Being 'born unwanted' carried a risk of negative psychosocial
development, especially for only children who had no siblings.
At age nine they did poorer in school (despite no differences
on intelligence tests), were less popular with classmates, and
were more frequently described by mothers and teachers as being
difficult. By age 21 -23 they reported less job satisfaction,
more conflict with coworkers and supervisors, and more disappointments
in love. By age 35 they had experienced more mental health problems.
In summary, there is a substantial
literature that documents the serious health, social, psychological,
and economic consequences of unintended and unwanted childbearing.
These consequences can include increased maternal and infant death
and illness, unstable marriages, and the restriction of educational
and occupational opportunities leading to poverty and limited
roles for women. These adverse effects are not shared equally
by all segments of society, and in the United States fall more
heavily on those who are poor, young, or members of an ethnic
minority group. Further, evidence suggests that even in advantageous
social and economic circumstances, when a pregnancy is unwanted
and the women requests an abortion, to deny it forces her to bear
a child at risk for psychological problems that are long lasting.
In this context, the watchword of the family planning movement
- 'Every Child a Wanted Child' has particular meaning for health
This essay draws upon and updates
an essay titled 'When Children are Unwanted' by the authors that
was previously published as a Social Issue release from the Board
of Social & Ethical Responsibility for Psychology of the American
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