$7.2bn cost of unintended pregnancies sparks calls for free contraception

An issue affecting tens of thousands of Australians, at a massive cost to the economy, has sparked calls for change.

A new report has found 40 per cent of all Australian pregnancies are unintended, at a cost of $7.2bn to the nation’s economy, sparking calls for contraception to be provided for free.

There were 197,234 either “mistimed” or “unwanted” pregnancies in Australia in 2020 according to the study, which will be presented at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday.

More than half of those pregnancies resulted in the baby being raised by the parent, while 31 per cent were terminated and 1 per cent ended up with the child being adopted.

The average cost of each unintended pregnancy in Australia is estimated to be $36,384, through direct medical expenses and indirect costs such as lost wages and government payments supports.

Women took on most of the financial and social burden, the report, commissioned by contraceptives company Organon, found.

Indigenous women and those living in rural and regional areas or experiencing socio-economic disadvantage were also much more likely to have an unwanted pregnancy.

Melbourne mother-of-three Fleur Pryor accidentally fell pregnant twice when she was young and went on to have another, planned pregnancy with her husband later in life.

Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney says the government will examine access to women’s reproductive healthcare.

Ms Pryor, 43, said she adored all her children but she would have liked more support from her doctor when she was younger to choose the contraception which was best for her.

She said having her first son when she was 16 years old was a challenge.

“I didn’t have a car, it was wintertime, my partner then had to work two jobs, so I was on my own,” she said.

Danielle Mazza, the director of the SPHERE research centre for sexual health, said women struggled with the disparity of reproductive health services across the country.

Professor Mazza said there was no reason Australia couldn’t follow the lead of the UK and provide contraceptives and abortion services for free.

“Free contraception, abortion with no out of pocket, regional level planning of services, so that it doesn’t matter where you are in Australia, you still can get access to services,” she said.

“We could do that through our Primary Health Networks that are very well placed and they already do that for mental health and drug and alcohol services.”

Professor Mazza will discuss the report with Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney and Liberal MP Bridget Archer on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Labor will be asked to consider funding reproductive healthcare initiatives in the May budget. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Professor Mazza said she’d like to see initiatives outlined in the May federal budget for reproductive healthcare, including an increase to Medicare rebates for GPs to help them provide contraception and abortions.

Ms Kearney said support for women to plan pregnancies, including with affordable contraception, led to better health outcomes.

“We know there are issues and barriers to people accessing contraceptives, for example, the low uptake in Australia of long acting, reversible contraceptive devices,” she said.

“I will be working with the Health Minister Mark Butler and state and territory governments to understand why and what can be done.”

The federal government has identified improving access to sexual and reproductive health care as a priority in its national women’s health strategy for the next eight years.

Labor before the 2019 election proposed having public hospitals provide abortions as part of their Commonwealth funding arrangements, but that policy hasn’t been revived.

The federal government currently provides subsidies for a range of medicines for contraception and medical abortions through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Originally published as $7.2bn cost of unintended pregnancies sparks calls for free contraception