Remember Remember the 5th of November

The US would be Wise To??

Here in the UK we are celebrating Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes. Where the Catholics failed in their bid to assassinate the Protestant King James 1st. A divided land and people.?

My thoughts today are across the pond in the United States. Another divided land and people (as so many are right now).

Today seemed like a good day to reshare an article I was commissioned to write by the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare for World Mental Health Day 2 years ago. Archived and no longer on their website it’s message is as important today as it was then. If not more so.?

?The Mental Health Impact for all with Unplanned Pregnancy and the Right to Abortion.?

This World Mental Health Day our focus is rightly directed to ‘Making mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority’. With women’s rights, health and the right to abortion being such hot topics globally this year, I think it’s important to use this day to reflect on some of the mental health impacts around unplanned pregnancy, abortion, and the right to choose.?

Currently, 45% of pregnancies and one third of births in England are unplanned or associated with feelings of ambivalence[i]. Whilst teenagers remain the group at highest risk of unplanned pregnancy, increasing abortion rates for women over 30 and over 35 show that this is an issue for all ages as well as all levels of literacy and socio-economic status. With many women now starting sexual activity earlier in life, and having children later, it is not unusual to have to spend 30 years needing to avoid an unplanned pregnancy[ii]. Unsurprisingly mishaps will occur.?

Unplanned pregnancy is not just an issue for women. Whilst pregnancy and abortion obviously affect women’s bodies, unplanned pregnancies have repercussions for men, fathers, babies, and children. In the discussion about whether women have the ‘right to choose’ we often overlook the mental health impact of both the unplanned pregnancy and the debate or discussion itself. Knowing that rights are in question or might be taken away can cause anxiety, depression, and stress. Whilst preventing unplanned pregnancy remains the optimum goal, we need to be honest how different options affect mental health.?

No one wants to have an abortion. An accidental or unplanned pregnancy means that a choice must be made. What the lesser of two evils is depends upon the circumstances and situation. Carrying a baby to term, parenting, and raising a child is a momentous undertaking. Maternal health and mental health are now known to greatly impact the long-term health and mental health of a child, impacting neurological development, nervous and immune systems. Parenting and attachment styles have similar impacts. Children whose fathers are more positively engaged with them at the age of three months have fewer behavioural problems at the age of twelve months[iii]. There are significant risks to the mental health of mother, father, and child if parenting isn’t undertaken willingly.?

There are financial pressures too. Raising a child to the age of 18 in the minimum socially acceptable standard of living is now estimated to cost ￡160,692 for a couple (￡193,801 for a lone parent)[iv]. A huge financial burden on top of the time and energy commitment of parenting, and the physical and hormonal work of pregnancy and birth. Children born into poverty are more likely to experience a wide range of health problems, including poor nutrition, chronic disease and mental health illness. Poverty puts an additional strain on families, which can lead to parental mental health and relationship problems, financial problems and substance misuse. The unplanned financial pressure of a child can tip many women and families into poverty or poor mental health potentially increasing the need for social, health and local support services later, with the associated costs to the state.?

The risk of unplanned pregnancy to a woman’s mental health is recognised in the 1967 Abortion Act which states that the ‘provision of treatment to save the life or to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of a pregnant woman overrides any other legal or ethical consideration’. An understanding that forced parenthood has significant mental health risks. How ironic then that years later in 2010 the UK government sought to assess the mental health of all women presenting for abortion and ‘make available information on the possible mental health risks to women of an induced abortion.’ Abortion now being seen as a greater risk to mental health than pregnancy and parenting.?

Things have got worse since 2010, with abortion rights now in question globally, a polarising topic of heated debate. This July the then Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, removed a phrase including UK commitments to abortion and sexual health rights from an official multi-nation statement on gender equality[v]. Protests are being seen outside UK abortion clinics in increasing number. Thankfully in rare contrast to moves to restrict care, in March the UK Government reserved its decision to end access to telemedicine for early abortion, a decision it originally made against the advice of several senior organisations including the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists | RCOG , the British Medical Association and The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) [vi].

The decision to end a pregnancy is huge. No woman undertakes this lightly or without thought into the best outcome for her, the father, and child’s situation. Increased pressure on whether she has a choice, or judgement and shame around that choice will only add to the difficulty and challenge of an already charged and stressful time. Barriers to accessing safe abortion merely push women into risker options as seen time and time again around the world. Walking past protesters challenging your decision to access care has repercussions for the emotional and mental health of women and may lead to some feeling forced into different decisions with potential longer term and wider mental health impacts.?

The truth is that when it comes to unplanned pregnancy there are many interwoven and complicated factors at play. Whilst focus needs to continue on prevention, and effective contraceptive care, we need to be more honest, joined-up and long-term in our thinking. There are mental health consequences to every option and decision. Increasing the pressures on women around getting accidentally pregnant and what choices are then available and socially acceptable will only add to rates of mental illness which are already higher in women than men and growing at a faster rate. Forced parenthood can lead to a plethora of long-term mental health and financial implications for mother, father, child, and state. On World Mental Health Day as we look at how to ‘make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority’ let’s think about how this can begin with how decisions are made about who is born.?

References

[i] Public Health England. Health matters: reproductive health and pregnancy planning. 26 June 2018

[ii] Wellings K et al. The prevalence of unplanned pregnancy and associated factors in Britain. The Lancet, 26 November 2013.

[iii] Ramchandani P et al. Do early father-infant interactions predict the onset of externalising behaviours in young children? Findings from a longitudinal cohort study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 2012 (epub ahead of print).

[iv] Child Poverty Action Group. The Cost of a Child in 2021. December 2021. Hirsch D and Lee T.?

[v] The Guardian. 27th July 2022. Senior Tory urges Liz Truss to explain deletion of abortion rights from statement.

[vi] Public Policy Projects. A Women’s Health Agenda: Redressing the Balance.?

Have a good week?

Best Wishes

Amy x?

P.S. Free Masterclass on ‘Do Workplace Health Right’ Live - Monday 18th November 2025?

I’m running a free masterclass at 12pm Monday 18th November to take attendees through my Workplace Health and Mental Health Framework, where it fits in terms of other global frameworks and benchmarks, and to answer questions about next year’s ‘Do Workplace Health Right’ Live.

Sign up here to register and received the recording.