Suicide a significant concern for pregnant women, Queensland Maternal and Perinatal Quality Council finds

EXPERTS are calling for more mental health and clinical support for pregnant women after releasing a study highlighting the causes of the 57 maternal deaths in Queensland that occurred during 2014 and 2015.

• ‘I had an abortion and I have no regrets’

SUICIDE is one of the leading causes of deaths in Queensland women during pregnancy and in the year afterwards, a new report has found.

Of the 57 maternal deaths in Queensland during 2014 and 2015, suicide accounted for 10 cases. Other causes included terminal cancer, car accidents and domestic violence.

Of the women who took their own lives, three followed an abortion.

The latest report of the Queensland Maternal and Perinatal Quality Council called for more support for women after a termination of pregnancy.

As the Queensland Law Reform Commission prepares to hand down its findings on a review of the state’s abortion laws, the council said: “The lack of clarity around the Queensland legislation for access to early and late termination of pregnancy, and in relation to the termination of pregnancy for a foetal anomaly, remains problematic.”

Of the 57 maternal deaths in Queensland during 2014 and 2015, suicide accounted for 10 cases.

The council recommended that Queensland Health explore how communication between abortion providers, general practitioners and mental health services could be improved to ensure women were appropriately supported after a pregnancy termination.

“The majority of termination of pregnancy providers do not operate in the public sector, and may be less well connected to other components of the medical care system such as, for example, a woman’s usual GP,” the report said. “Therefore, women with, or who are at risk of mental health problems may fall through the gaps between termination providers, the GP community and mental health providers.

“The development of a pathway for the provision of mental health screening, referral to mental health services and termination of pregnancy services, would assist in enhancing communication between these services to the ultimate benefit of women.”

A Children by Choice spokeswoman said the best available research showed most women coped well after an abortion with the “small exception” of those who had pre-existing mental health issues and in cases where women were coerced or pressured into a termination, despite wanting the pregnancy.

“The council gives no indication of the circumstances surrounding the individual cases of suicide included in its report so it’s impossible for us to know if any of these risk factors were present here, or if the termination itself was a factor,” she said.

“There is a clear need, and has been for some time, for better access to mental health services and improved treatment pathways for women following pregnancy full stop, regardless of whether the outcome is birth, miscarriage, stillbirth or termination.

“Collaboration between health-care providers and mental health services are warranted across all pregnancy care settings, not just in abortion care.”

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