This frightening information comes from a new peer-reviewed study published on Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA.  

The study estimates that the rapes resulting in the staggering number of pregnancies occurred between July 1, 2022 and January 2024, in states where abortion has been almost completely banned. 

Out of the nearly 65,000 pregnancies, its estimated more than 5,500 occurred in states with rape exceptions and nearly 59,000 are estimated for states without exceptions.

Researchers found that more than 26,000 rape-caused pregnancies likely took place in Texas alone. 

In the states with rape exceptions for abortions – Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, West Virginia and North Dakota – survivors are required to report crimes to police in order to access abortion services. Research from 2022 has shown only 21 per cent of victim-survivors do so. 

“Thousands of girls and women in states that banned abortion experienced rape-related pregnancy, but few (if any) obtained in-state abortions legally, suggesting that rape exceptions fail to provide reasonable access to abortion for survivors,” researchers concluded.

“Survivors of rape who become pregnant in states with abortion bans may seek a self-managed abortion or try to travel (often hundreds of miles) to a state where abortion is legal, leaving many without a practical alternative to carrying the pregnancy to term.”

The Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling ended the constitutional right to abortion across America that the landmark Roe v. Wade 1973 ruling guaranteed. 

“Highly stigmatized life events are hard to measure. And many survivors of sexual violence do not want to disclose that they went through this incredibly stigmatizing traumatic life event,” said Samuel Dickman, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of Montana, who led the latest study. 

“We will never know the true number of survivors of rape and sexual assault in the U.S.”

Data collection 

Researchers calculated the findings by combining data from multiple sources, including national data from a U.S Ceners for Disease Control and Prevention survey on intimate partner sexual violence from 2016 to 2017. 

The researchers also used a Bureau of Justice Statistics survey on criminal victimization to help determine the number of completed vaginal rapes among girls and women of reproductive age (defined as 15 to 45 years old). State-level rape estimates came from FBI crime reports as state-level data wasn’t available.

Considering that stigma and fear prevents many people from reporting rapes and sexual assaults, the authors noted that the numbers could be lower than reality.

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According to a report from the University of Newcastle, women in the Northern Rivers were subjected to high levels of violence and sexual assaults, resulting in unplanned pregnancies.

The researchers – Associate Professor Wendy Foote, Professor Margaret Alston, Dr David Betts and Dr Tracy McEwan – said the emergency centres established in response to the floods did not adequately consider the safety of women and children.

They suggested separation of men and women and children in emergency centres, as well as more triaging, would have avoided the increased rates of gender-based violence and sexual assaults.

MSI Australia, a leading reproductive healthcare clinic in Australia, provides contraception and abortion care to people and communities who have been affected by climate-related disasters.

Head of Policy and Research at MSI Australia Bonney Corbin told Women’s Agenda unplanned and unwanted pregnancies can often go unnoticed during times of crisis, including during climate-related disasters.

“There’s an assumption that we don’t have sex when we’re displaced, but the evidence shows that both rape and sexual activity increases in times of emergency,” Corbin said.

“When we are displaced, we lose routine, and we’re more likely to forget where we are at in our menstrual cycle. Pregnancy can go unnoticed.

“Dissociation following sexual violence and rape can mean that victim-survivors delay making choices about their pregnancy.”

Following the February 2022 floods in northern NSW, MSI Australia clinics were providing care to some women who did not realise they were pregnant until they were beyond nine weeks in pregnancy gestation. This meant they could no longer access medical abortion care and were only able to access surgical abortion.

The financial impacts of a climate-related disasters can also impede a person’s ability to access abortion care, as well as a range of other compounding factors that arise during times of crises.

“Some people realise they are pregnant and want to have an abortion, but are in financial distress with other priorities of food and accommodation, so can’t afford to pay out of pocket abortion costs,” Corbin said.

“Following the floods we provided care to women who had delayed accessing an abortion by a number of weeks.”

It is never a victim’s job to prepare for or prevent rape from happening, Corbin said, but the solution to unplanned and unwanted pregnancies is access to the “full spectrum” of healthcare: products, information and services.

“People need access to long-acting reversible contraception all year round, so that they already have access to contraception when disaster hits,” Corbin said.

“Access to health services is important but it isn’t enough. We need access to the spectrum of health products, and information that people need for reproductive autonomy.

“In the aftermath of a disaster, people need immediate access to health products including condoms, menstrual management, dental dams, pregnancy tests.”

A study from the United Nations Population Fund in 2022 found nearly half of all pregnancies around the world are unplanned or unwanted. This equates to around 121 million pregnancies every year, due to gender inequality, lack of sex education, poverty, limited healthcare services and more.

Rates of unplanned pregnancies spike in times of crisis – not just environmental crises, but also times of war, conflict, food insecurity and more. It is expected that in Afghanistan alone, by 2025, there will be an estimated 4.8 million unintended pregnancies.

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Published in the medical journal BMC Women’s Health on Tuesday, the study found almost 90 per cent of endometriosis patients surveyed were advised by their health professional that pregnancy reduces endometriosis lesions or symptoms, despite the lack of evidence to support that claim. 

Endometriosis is a severe inflammatory condition caused by tissues that resembles the uterus lining, the endometrium, growing outside the uterus. There is no cure.

Symptoms vary but can include frequent, intense pelvic pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety and infertility. 

One in 9 women and those assigned female at birth, or 190 million people globally, are affected by the disease.

The study’s researchers– from the University of Adelaide, the University of Sydney and the endometriosis charity EndoActive– found that out of the 3,347 endometriosis patients who answered the survey, 1, 892 reported their health professional told them to have a baby to manage pain or treat endometriosis. 

Also, 36 per cent of the patients were told pregnancy would cure endometriosis altogether.

The study concluded that “profound and often negative patient impacts” resulted from this advice, including “hastening the making of major life decisions” to plan for pregnancy, “eroding trust with healthcare professionals, worsening mental health and straining relationships”. 

One participant was only 13-years-old when she was given advice by her doctor to get pregnant. She told the researchers that “it wasn’t appropriate”, so she ignored it and continued with her high school studies. 

Another participant described how the advice to become pregnant to treat her endometriosis had severely strained her relationship, saying: “I felt a huge pressure to have kids young and my partner couldn’t understand the intense conversation at a young age.”

Women’s health organisation, Jean Hailes also advises that pregnancy does not cure the disease, and while endometriosis symptoms may improve, some women continue to experience pain through their pregnancy. 

The incidence of infertility is 30–50 per cent higher for people with endometriosis, which the BMC Women’s Health study says could be another reason that doctors are inclined to tell patients to try for pregnancy.  

Nevertheless, the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) Guidelines for Management of Endometriosis states as well that pregnancy should not be recommended as a cure for endometriosis, as it does not always lead to improvement in symptoms or arrest disease progression. 

“Providing evidence-based information on the treatment and management of endometriosis is essential,” the study says.

“Pregnancy or having a baby should not be suggested as a treatment for endometriosis and the provision of this advice by healthcare professionals can have negative impacts on those who receive it.”

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will deliver a national apology to thalidomide survivors and their families today. More than 60 years since the medication had devastating consequences when taken by pregnant women, the apology recognises the government’s role in the tragedy and its enduring impact.

Had the government acted more swiftly to issue public warnings and restrict thalidomide use when concerns were first raised, as many as 20% of Australia’s thalidomide survivors may not have been affected.

Today, protecting pregnant people and the fetus means ensuring there is high quality science to guide medicine use.

What is the thalidomide story?

Thalidomide was developed in the 1950s in Germany. Originally intended for use as a sedative or tranquilliser, by the late 1950s it was soon being widely promoted as a safe and effective treatment for morning sickness in pregnancy.

At the time, it was commonly thought the placenta would act as a barrier to stopping medicines reaching the fetus in the womb. Animal studies showed low toxicity and no tests were done involving pregnant women.

Thalidomide rapidly become available for use around the world, including the United Kingdom and Australia. The United States famously rejected marketing approval, largely owing to the efforts of pharmacologist Frances Kelsey who was concerned about the paucity of safety data available.

As use increased worldwide, so too did reports of babies being born with distinct birth malformations. Thalidomide embryopathy is characterised by shortening of the arms or legs. But when taken in early pregnancy it can also result in sight or hearing loss, facial paralysis and impact to internal organs.

The first public report linking thalidomide to birth malformations was made by an Australian doctor William McBride in The Lancet journal in 1961. Soon after, the medicine began to be withdrawn from the market. By this time, it was estimated thalidomide led to thousands of miscarriages and deaths of newborns worldwide and left more than 10,000 children with lifelong disability.

A careful comeback

In the last decade thalidomide has made a comeback. Thalidomide is being used in the treatment of certain cancers and other relatively rare conditions such as leprosy. Most recently, it was investigated as a potential treatment for COVID.

While its return may cause anxiety, there are strict controls limiting its use. This includes requiring people who could get pregnant to take regular pregnancy tests and multiple forms of birth control.

Prescribing thalidomide involves careful counselling and discussion of risks involved. Some may prefer to see thalidomide gone forever. For others, it represents a potential life-changing treatment.

Thalidomide changed medicine – for better and worse

The continued availability of thalidomide raises important ethical questions about how we balance the need to make available effective treatments, while ensuring we protect the most vulnerable.

The thalidomide tragedy represents a significant historical turning point in medicines testing and regulatory oversight. There is now much tighter testing of medicines in both animals and humans before they are marketed and closer scrutiny of their potential side-effects.

But there is a dark side. Thalidomide also gave rise to an ongoing hesitancy towards the testing and use of medicines during pregnancy. This has stifled the critical development of new and existing medicines to treat common life-threatening conditions in pregnancy. Globally, many thousands of women and babies die each year from conditions such as preterm birth and pre-eclampsia. Yet, in the last 30 years, only one new medication has been developed specifically for use to treat such complications.

Such hesitancy was most recently demonstrated during the COVID pandemic where pregnant women were excluded from participating in the first vaccination and treatment clinical trials. This led to uncertainty about how to best protect vulnerable pregnant individuals and their children from the effects of COVID, leading to otherwise avoidable deaths.

What’s next?

A national apology represents an important step in the healing process for those affected by thalidomide and an opportunity to reflect on its legacy.

The most important legacy should be one of ensuring we have adequate data to support the safe and effective use of medicines in pregnancy, rather than one of excluding pregnant people from research or using medicines.

This requires greater government investment and support into how we develop, evaluate, monitor and guide medicines use in pregnancy. A coordinated national approach across all sectors to identify, outline and implement strategies could ensure pregnant people have access to the modern medicines they deserve. Otherwise we risk repeating failures of the past and relegating pregnant people to the status of therapeutic orphans.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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On Monday, Guterres made a televised address from UN headquarters, reiterating his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas, which has so far claimed more than 10,000 Palestinian lives since October 7, and over 1,400 Israelis. 

Protecting civilians “must be paramount” Guterres said. “We must act now to find a way out of this brutal, awful, agonising dead end of destruction.”

“Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly being killed or injured every day. I am deeply concerned about clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing.”

“Let me be clear – no party to an armed conflict is above international humanitarian law.” 

“Ground operations by the Israel Defense Forces and continued bombardment are hitting civilians, hospitals, refugee camps, mosques, churches and U.N. facilities – including shelters. No one is safe.” 

“At the same time, Hamas and other militants use civilians as human shields and continue to launch rockets indiscriminately towards Israel,” he continued. 

Guterres noted the 89 people working with the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) who have been killed in Gaza. 

“I join the UN family in mourning 89 of our UNRWA colleagues who have been killed in Gaza – many of them together with members of their family,” he said. “They include teachers, school principals, doctors, engineers, guards, support staff.” 

Guterres also reiterated his “utter condemnation of the abhorrent acts of terror perpetrated by Hamas on 7 October.”

“[I] repeat my call for the immediate, unconditional and safe release of hostages held in Gaza,” he said. “Nothing can justify the deliberate torture, killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians.” 

As the conflict enters its second month, Israel continues to strike Gaza from the air, imposing a siege and launching a ground invasion, leaving more than one million Gazans homeless. 

Aid trucks have been entering Gaza from Egypt via the Rafah crossing, a stretch that does not border Israel — but UN officials have stressed this is not enough for the 2.3 million people of Gaza.

“The trickle of assistance does not meet the ocean of need,” Guterres said. “The Rafah crossing alone does not have the capacity to process aid trucks at the scale required.”

“Just over 400 trucks have crossed into Gaza over the past two weeks – compared with 500 a day before the conflict.  And crucially, this does not include fuel.”

“Without fuel…water cannot be pumped or purified. Raw sewage could soon start gushing onto the streets, further spreading disease.” 

“Without fuel, newborn babies in incubators and patients on life support will die.” 

Dr Bashar Murad, director of the Al Quds Hospital in Gaza City, told France 24 that women in labour are unable to access health services, such as ambulances, doctors or midwives, saying “it’s dangerous to travel because of the bombing.” 

“A lot of people, especially children, are suffering from infections, including skin sores and waterborne diseases like diarrhoea,” he said. 

“They are living in shelters where hygiene is bad and people are very close together, so disease spreads.”  

Médecins Sans Frontières paediatric intensive care doctor Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, reported that women have been likelier to miscarry or give birth prematurely, threatening “the survival of the baby.” 

Scarce electricity supplies are a “death sentence” for premature babies who need incubators, breathing machines, and infusion pumps.

“Without any of those things, those premature babies won’t survive,” Dr Haj-Hassan said. 

Dominic Allen from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said that “pregnant women are unable to access basic maternal health services. They’re facing unthinkable challenges.”  

“Now the healthcare system is on the brink of collapse and, in some health facilities, already collapsing,” Allen said. 

“There’s the safety issue of where is she going to give birth, and how. There is nowhere safe in Gaza at the moment.” 

“Pregnant women need at least one-third of a litre more, and breastfeeding women need at least two-thirds on top of that.” 

“A woman who gave birth seven months ago told us that her milk supply has dried up because she can’t drink enough water, and also because of the stress and strain of moving from one shelter to another.” 

One report from last week revealed that pregnant women in Gaza are being forced to undergo emergency C-sections without anaesthetics.

A youth volunteer with ActionAid in Gaza sent a message from Al-Shifa Hospital – the largest medical facility Gaza.
 
“I’m now at the Al-Shifa Hospital, in the incubator department…there is no fuel in The Gaza Strip, there is no fuel entering the Gaza Strip or going to the hospitals,” the volunteer, named Bisan, said. 

“So more than 45 incubators just in Al-Shifa Hospital could stop. And these newborn babies could simply [die]… Because they need special care. These [babies] in incubators with an age of 42-45 weeks of pregnancy, days old, are [at] threat of [dying].” 

Hiba Tibi, the Palestinian country director at CARE International described the situation where women who were unable to breastfeed “are being forced to use contaminated water for baby formula as they have no access to clean water”. 

“Today, my colleague told me they are drinking the swimming pool water and drinking it because they cannot access water anymore,” she told CNN.  

“Unfortunately in Gaza, we are seeing something we have never seen before. Now we are seeing people who are not only [being killed] by the bombing and the shelling but also the lack of water, the accessing and consumption of contaminated water.” 

Bisan Owda, a young Palestinian, has been documenting the daily struggles of her life in Gaza since last month. In her latest video, posted three days ago, the 25-year told her followers about waking up at 4am to use the bathrooms to avoid the long lines, and the scarcity of water and food.

“This is the first water I’m drinking since 8am. It’s only 200 millimetres, and it’s now 3pm. People here in Gaza are more thirsty more and more everyday.”

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Leanna and Theo Loutas celebrated the birth of their first-born, Bonnie, last week at Sydney’s Royal Hospital for Women in Randwick. 

Earlier this year, the couple were offered a new fertility procedure called CAPA IVM (Capacitation in-vitro maturation) — a treatment which involves retrieving eggs at an immature stage and bringing them to maturity in cell culture.

It eliminates the need for two weeks of hormone treatment and costs about half the price of traditional IVF. 

Leanna Loutas said the alternative treatment allowed her to travel and celebrate Christmas without the stress of fitting in two weeks of hormone injections.

“I was going to take a break before trying IVF again as I didn’t want all of the side effects of the hormones while traveling,” she said. 

“When I was offered CAPA IVM, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I would only need to do two days of injections. It made the whole process seem a lot less daunting.”

The Loutas’ struggled for two years to fall pregnant, trying a range of treatment methods, including a round of IVF.

“CAPA IVM was a success and we were able to freeze two embryos,” Leanna said. “[A baby] was the best Christmas present we could have possibly had.” 

“We feel hugely privileged and grateful to have been given this opportunity. Hopefully we’re the first of many to come and when other people hear about our story it will give them encouragement”.

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CAPA IVM is currently available to select patients at The Royal Hospital for Women through the Fertility & Research Centre, which is funded by The Royal Hospital for Women Foundation.

Professor Bill Ledger, the hospital’s head of Reproductive Medicine, said the hospital is one of only six locations in the world to offer CAPA-IVM. 

“While this is a special time for Leanna and Theo as they enter the journey of parenthood, it’s a big moment for everyone involved, as we close the loop from research to the arrival of a baby,” Prof Ledger said. 

CAPA-IVM uses new science, resulting in higher pregnancy rates per cycle.

“The problem has been when you take an egg out of the human body it matures very quickly, even when it may not be ready to, but the CAPA method switches off the progression of the egg for 24 hours,” Prof Ledger explained. “So it grows more slowly, and it matures more healthily.” 

Professor Robert Gilchrist is a NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and Director of Research in the School of Women’s & Children’s Health, whose research has contributed to the development of CAPA IVM. 

“The principal advantage of CAPA IVM is that it uses only two days of hormone treatment compared to two weeks of hormone treatment in an IVF cycle. So the burden is much less on the patient,” he said.

“We’ve got quite a special treatment here because these women have only two days of hormones and have a reasonable prospect of getting pregnant”.

“Many years of blood, sweat and tears have gone into this,” Prof Gilchrist said. “Countless hours of research over two decades, so this is a very proud moment.” 

“To be able to take a discovery from the lab into a clinic and make a real difference for Leanna on her fertility journey and other women who will follow is very special”.

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The average age of both mothers and fathers has been steadily increasing since the mid-1970s. 

Less than 20 per cent of births were to mothers aged between 30 and 39 years old in 1975. 

Now, as Emily Walter, ABS head of demography says, “Nearly 60 per cent of births are to mothers in this age group.”

Women are also having fewer children, with the total fertility rate slowly dropping since the mid-70s. Last year, the rate was 1.63 births per woman — lower than the 2021 rate of 1.70 births per woman. 

“Although total fertility remains low, the fertility rate for women in their late 30s and early 40s has significantly increased,” Walter added. 

Between 1991 to 2022, the fertility rate of mothers aged 35-39 years almost doubled from 36.0 to 69.3 births per 1,000 women.

For women aged 40-44 years, the rate has nearly tripled from 5.5 to 15.8 births per 1,000 women. The fertility rate of teenage mothers though has reached an all-time low of 6.8 births per 1,000 women. In 1991, the rate was 22.1 births per 1,000 women. 

Last year, a total of 300,684 births were recorded in Australia — 9,000 less than the previous year, though higher than 2020 numbers. 

The highest fertility rate cohort were women in the 30-34 years age bracket, while women in the 45-49 years cohort continue to have the lowest fertility rate. 

The Northern Territory had the highest total fertility rate (1.73 babies per woman), while the ACT had the lowest total fertility rate (1.41 babies per woman).

The latest data is consistent with studies that have shown women having their first and subsequent births later in life, as well as the general trend of delayed parenthood due to other contributing factors, such as leaving the home, gaining economic stability, and marrying or forming long-term de facto relationships later than was seen in the past. 

Similar trends have been noted in the US, where the proportion of women giving birth at ages 40 to 44 has been on a steady rise. 

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As the fires spread, smoke covered towns and cities. Millions of people were suddenly confronted with bad air. Many had children. Many were pregnant. All worried about what the smoke might mean for their child.

Our new book explores the worries and desperation of people who were pregnant or parenting during the unprecedented fires over the 2019–2020 summer. We drew on in-depth stories from 25 mothers (and sometimes their partners).

The smoke was something they had no control over. But public health advice told them they had the responsibility to keep their child safe. Mothers and their partners worried endlessly about what damage the pollutants in the air were doing. This, we argue, speaks to how those who have done little to fuel the climate crisis can be particularly at risk.

What did we find?

One woman, Renee, told us about the anxiety of being pregnant and with two small children in the smoke:

I was really worried about lung damage for my kids upstairs, but I was also worried, [for] like, brain development at that point, as you get into the end of the pregnancy […] I kept having conversations with myself going, ‘I’m not in my first 12 weeks, surely that’s riskier. I’m in this safer zone’.

Renee’s story speaks to how our interviewees tried to take responsibility for themselves and their foetuses.

It was a common thread. The 25 mothers and partners we interviewed were living in Canberra or on the south coast of New South Wales. These areas were among the worst affected by smoke.

Renee’s feelings of risk and responsibility are amplified in an era that historian of fire Stephen Pyne has named the “Pyrocene”, a time when bushfires and the burning of fossil fuels are careering out of control.

Our research shows pregnant people were framed as “doubly vulnerable” to smoke, due to their own exposure and that of their foetus. Health advice from organisations such as the Royal Women’s Hospital urged them to stay indoors, use air-conditioning and to spend time at libraries and shopping centres to avoid exposure.

Who is responsible?

Given health warnings about smoke exposure, it’s not surprising our interviewees expressed considerable concern for their unborn babies.

Alice, pregnant during the fires:

It was really constantly on my mind, and I tried to kind of not get too anxious about it, but it was really difficult because […] I mean, you just think about it all the time. You’re just constantly worrying when you’re pregnant what’s going to affect the baby. Like everything you do.

Gina, pregnant during the fires:

It was just always kind of lingering, like we were just unsure about what kind of effects it would have on the development of his organs and whatever else. I was obviously more stressed than my husband, just because, you know, the mother is carrying the baby and there’s more stress just naturally on the mum

Even while worrying about the health of their babies, women also felt the responsibility for keeping them “safe” from smoke exposure fell primarily to them.

What we ask is – is this fair? As recent research makes clear, pollutants such as bushfire smoke are uncontrollable.

Feminist scholars note that public health advice and scientific research tends to emphasise how vulnerable the foetus is and, by extension, place responsibility on the mother – even while acknowledging how little control they have over the situation.

When responsibility meets uncertainty

Australia has long been affected by bushfires. But they’re getting worse as the world heats up.

There’s no roadmap for how to live with sudden crises such as fires or the long, slow burn of incremental change. We’re all experimenting at individual, household and community levels as well as nationally and regionally.

Many of us are having to tinker with our machines and our homes to take care of others and to survive the new extremes.

Climate change is happening to the globe. But the devastation wreaked by extreme weather, disruption to farming or intensified fires is not evenly distributed, either by who did the most to cause it or by who is most hard hit.

Wealth magnifies unfairness. Those who have done the most to create and benefit from carbon-intensive capitalism are more likely to be able to shield themselves from its effects, while people who are pregnant and parenting, and First Nations people – especially children aged five and under – are more vulnerable.

What we point to is a question. How can we find ways to take care of foetuses and young children without forcing parents (and mothers, in particular) to shoulder the impossible responsibility of safety?

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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For one hopeful mum, Katrina Row, the journey was unexpectedly long and full of trials.

“Originally when I first started my journey, I just thought ‘okay I’m young, it’ll happen first time’,” Row tells Tarla Lambert on our podcast series Fertility Unfiltered, in partnership with Genea Fertility. 

“So I told my mom, my sisters about the transfer, and they were excited like me – and then – it didn’t work so they went on this emotional rollercoaster with me.

“And then – after the second one didn’t work, and the second egg collection where I only got two embryos again, very low numbers, I then soon realised that okay it might not happen straight away.”

IVF or in-vitro fertilisation is the process of collecting eggs and sperm, and taking them to a lab for fertilisation so they can be turned into embryos. Then, at a world leading fertility clinic like Genea Fertility, the embryos are then moved to a special incubation system where they grow for several days before being transferred to the uterus. 

Row’s journey with IVF ended up taking years and many heartbreaking attempts, but eventually, she found a successful treatment and was able to have the baby she’d been dreaming about.

“I’m a nanny,” she says. “And I work for a gynaecologist who wrapped her brains and thought of Dr Rashi from Genea.”

Dr Rashi did some investigating and was able to find that Row had endometriosis as well as some other issues.

“They found a little bit of endometriosis, cleaned that out and then also found that both the tubes were leaking fluid into the ovaries– which embryos are very sensitive and so that’s why [the eggs] probably weren’t sticking,” says Row, adding that doctors removed the tubes.

Luckily, doctors were able to collect two of Row’s embryos and try a fresh cycle of IVF, which culminated in her falling pregnant to what she calls her “miracle baby”. 

“It was a very, very long process and I didn’t want to give up and I’m so glad I didn’t,” says Row.  

Evelyn Zwhalen, a patient counsellor at Genea, also has personal experience with IVF– a journey that inspired her to work in the area.

Zwhalen tells the podcast that one of the most difficult aspects of IVF, for many women, is feeling a lack of control.

“This is something that many, many women will express to me. You know they are often women who have been very successful in their careers and in every other area of their life,” she says.

“They’re used to working really hard and achieving their goals and then suddenly they’re confronted with what seems like a really simple natural process that you know any 17-year-old can do, and they can’t and that is really, really tricky.”

“So, I’m encouraging women and men to focus on what they can control and that is how they do the journey.”

To learn about more reproductive health topics from health experts, check out the rest of the podcast series, “Fertility Unfiltered”, as new episodes are released each week. We’re creating a safe space for conversations around fertility, ranging from the possibility of parenthood, seeking guidance on reproductive health and even the science behind conception. 

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Australian and international research suggest that around 15-22 per cent of women experience depression during pregnancy and/or following the birth of their baby. And up to 1 in every 5 women may experience symptoms of anxiety, depression or both during pregnancy and/or following birth. 

Explaining the severity of postpartum depression, M.D., director of the Division of Psychiatry in the FDA’s Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research, Tiffany R. Farchione said in a statement that it’s “a serious and potentially life-threatening condition in which women experience sadness, guilt, worthlessness– even, in severe cases, thoughts of harming themselves or their child.”

“And, because postpartum depression can disrupt the maternal-infant bond, it can also have consequences for the child’s physical and emotional development.”

Now, the FDA has approved a once-a-day-pill, called zuranolone, for use in adults with postpartum depression. Before this, the only approved option for treating the condition was to have an IV infusion of brexanolone, a treatment approved by the FDA in 2019. 

“Having access to an oral medication will be a beneficial option for many of these women coping with extreme, and sometimes life-threatening, feelings,” said Dr Farchione.

The pill is meant to be taken for two weeks, and the labeling on the box of Zurzuvae (the branded name of zuranolone) contains a warning that it can impact a person’s ability to drive and perform other potentially hazardous activities. 

The efficacy of the pill was demonstrated in two randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre studies, with patients in the Zurzavae groups showing significantly more improvements in their symptoms compared to those in the placebo groups. 

The FDA says the most common side effects of the drug include drowsiness, dizziness, diarrhoea, fatigue, the common cold and urinary tract infection as well as a risk of suicidal thoughts. The drug may also cause foetal harm, so the FDA recommends women taking it to use contraception. 

Drug companies have said the pill will need to clear a 90-day Drug Enforcement Administration scheduling process before it can enter the market. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mental health conditions are the leading cause of maternal mortality, with PPD among the most common complications during and after pregnancy. 

Ph.D., PMH-C, Executive Director at Postpartum Support International said the approval of the first pill to treat PPD “is welcome news for the estimated 500,000 women in the United States who report experiencing symptoms of this devastating and often misunderstood illness each year.”

“Women with PPD desperately need prompt care and additional treatment options that can provide quick relief so they can be healthy and present during this momentous time in their lives.”

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The expansion of the program, which already runs at the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital at Sunshine Hospital in Melbourne, was confirmed to AAP yesterday by a Victorian government spokesperson.

“It’s so important that women have choice in the care they access,” they told AAP.

Kristyn Begnell, the coordinator of Homebirth Australia, is thrilled to hear the PFHB program is planning to expand in Victoria.

“PFHB is especially important for low socio-economic communities who cannot afford the cost of a Privately Practicing Midwife for homebirth, or those who cannot access due to geographical barriers,” she said.

“PFHB programs have historically been very restrictive, unfortunately not catering to the women who need it most, such as women with high risk pregnancies and first time mums.”

In the last year, 97 per cent of births in Australia took place in a hospital while just 0.5 per cent were home births, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

However, Homebirth Australia reports an uptick in the interest and demand for homebirth. In 2020, while giving birth in a hospital was the most popular choice for first-time mothers, mothers with one or more children chose to give birth at home more than any other place of birth.

In Australia, there are currently 17 publicly-funded homebirth programs, but Begnell said this is not enough.

“We would really love to see these restrictions eased so that those vulnerable groups can benefit from having a known midwife for their pregnancies and births,” she said.

“We strongly encourage all maternity facilities to engage with consumers from the planning stages, to ensure that the needs of women using these services are considered throughout.”

The Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne was founded in 1856 and is one of the oldest and most renowned women’s hospitals worldwide. Every year, the hospital delivers more than 9,000 babies.

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The findings come out of a survey by Gidget Foundation Australia on a national representative sample of 508 expectant Australian parents and parents with children under 5. 

A lack of workplace support is concerning considering that, in Australia, perinatal depression and anxiety (PNDA) affects one in ten fathers and one in five mothers.

The stigma associated with PNDA in men exacerbates the problem even further as the survey data shows fathers are less likely to seek help even though two in five (40 per cent) say they found parenting much more challenging than expected. 

Acknowledging that PNDA is a condition not just exclusive to mothers is important, according to Chris Barnes, Gidget Foundation Australia’s Senior Clinical Team Leader and Clinical Psychologist.

Barnes explains that the issue of new dads not seeking help is complex, saying, “balancing work and parental responsibilities can place pressures on new dads.”

“The expectation of taking only minimum parental leave means most dads do not have sufficient time to support themselves or their family in those early parenting days.”

“Men want to be more involved now more than ever before and we know that fathers have a significant role to play in raising healthy and happy children,” he says, adding that the issue of father’s mental health needs to be tackled in the workplace as well as the wider community. 

“If we can educate more organisations as well as dads on how to identify the signs of PNDA then we encourage more conversation, address gender inequality, reduce stigma and help develop ways workplaces can support them by normalising flexible working,” he says. 

Only five per cent of Gidget Foundation’s clients are new dads– a figure that Gidget Foundation Australia CEO, Arabella Gibson says shows fathers are suffering in silence.

“Although PNDA affects half as many new dads as it does new mums, the fact that just five per cent of our clients are fathers tells us that there’s still men who are struggling behind closed doors. What these new dads don’t realise is that they are far from alone and help is available, with early treatment incredibly important for the best chance of recovery,” Ms Gibson says.

“The more men we can encourage to speak up about PNDA the better, and the more we can encourage conversations and reduce stigma, the more fathers – and mothers – will seek out and receive early support.”

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