Early in the pandemic, there were predictions that stay-at-home orders would spawn a baby boom.
“Nine months after folks are forced to hunker down and ride out a natural disaster, the birth rate suddenly spikes,” explained an article on Fatherly, a parenting news website. “Whether it’s the boredom … or the sense of impending doom, there’s something about these situations that makes people do what comes naturally.”
This month, Fatherly ran a sequel titled, “The COVID-19 Baby Boom is a Lie.”
But it isn’t a lie. In the Philippines and other poor countries where families were already struggling to make ends meet, lockdowns did cause a spike in pregnancies, largely because women were unable to access birth control.
The pandemic has had profound impacts on pregnancy and birth rates, as well as birth outcomes, and the long-term consequences could ripple through economies, education systems and more. The thing is, some effects have defied expectations, and some are hard to explain.