German ‘conflict pregnancies’ strongly influenced by environment

Women who experience pregnancy conflicts – in which their interests conflict with those of their babies – often feel that their pregnancy is rejected by third parties, such as the child's father. That is reported by Catholic News Agency based on an academic study.

The study is based on data from the telephone and online advice centre VitaL, which helps women who struggle with an unwanted pregnancy. The researchers examined logs of 1,668 cases of conflict counselling that took place between 2012 and 2018.

Many pregnant women mention that "the child's father does not want it", "pressure from the family", and "pressure from the environment" as reasons for their pregnancy conflict. The Institut für Medizinische Anthropologie und Bioethik (Institute for Medical Anthropology and Bioethics, IMABE) states that about 30 per cent of the reasons for pregnancy conflict have to do with pressure from third parties.

The study results put a question mark behind the statement that abortion is always a free choice for pregnant women, IMABE warns. According to the institute, women regularly consider an abortion because they do not experience support from their surroundings or because they are forced to have an abortion.