Concealed pregnancies not a thing of the past
The report — Concealed Pregnancy: A case-study approach in an Irish setting — said neither denial nor concealment of pregnancy were a thing of the past.
Instead the research, carried out by Catherine Conlon of the Women’s Education, Research and Resource Centre (WERCC) UCD, on behalf of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and the Health Service Executive, found women continue to conceal and deny pregnancy for a variety of societal, cultural and psychological reasons, including:
Fear of upsetting or disappointing parents or to protect family from the stigma relating to pregnancy
Fear of rejection by parents
To conceal sexual activity
To facilitate placing the baby for adoption and to avoid others becoming involved in decision making
To conceal relationship with biological father or avoid threatening current relationship
The report warned the consequences of hidden pregnancy — defined as a situation where a woman does not present for antenatal care until past 20 weeks’ gestation — could be highly detrimental to medical outcomes for mother and child. It meant there was no opportunity to detect foetal anomalies, and “for one woman this left her entirely unprepared for the delivery of a stillborn baby”, the report said. Moreover, studies had shown low birth weight, delivering preterm, neonatal death and risk of maternal mortality were more common in women who conceal pregnancy.
Consciously denying pregnancy sometimes entailed drinking to forget, the report said, while concealing a pregnancy entailed isolating themselves from family and friends so as to go unnoticed, trying to contain the development of the pregnancy by exercising and dieting and planning to place the baby for adoption and in some cases, hiding the signs of labour. Of 51 women involved in the study at two hospitals — one in Dublin, and one in the west — eight had not presented at hospital until they were in labour. Two thirds of the women presented to the hospital for the first time at 7 months. This presented particular challenges for medical staff who were without a patient history or due date.
Catherine Conlon, author of the report, said one of the most striking aspects of the study was that women of all ages, of all social backgrounds, both married and single were in the sample group.
Olive Braiden, Chair, Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA), said they would be “examining how we can incorporate the information in this report into our work.
“One of the practical suggestions in the report is the establishment of a forum for the sharing of information on concealed pregnancy. This is something we will be doing.
Ms Braiden said it was “tragic” some women still felt the need to conceal pregnancy.
If you or someone you know has a crisis pregnancy, you can go to your GP, or text “list” to 50444 for a list of agencies that can help.
