Antenatal care, birth outcomes, health, development, maternal bonding and nutrition among children of women seeking abortion in a health facility in Nepal (2019-2024): a prospective cohort study.
4 affiliations
- 1Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, University of California, San Francisco, Oakland, USA.
- 2Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, USA.
- 3Department of Demography, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, USA.
- 4Center for Research on Environment Health and Population Activities, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Abstract
Background
The consequences of abortion denial for women's lives are increasingly recognized, but little is known about the well-being of children born as a result of denied abortion. We compared early childhood outcomes between children born due to abortion denial (index children) and children born from a subsequent pregnancy after their mother received an abortion (subsequent children).Methods
Longitudinal data from the five-year prospective cohort Nepal Turnaway Study (2019-2024) include index children and subsequent children. We assessed nutritional status, health, development, and household conditions through maternal report and direct anthropometric measurement. We employed mixed effects models with propensity score weighting to balance differences in maternal characteristics at time of abortion-seeking.Findings
Differences between index (n = 274) and subsequent (n = 421) children are to the detriment of index children. Disadvantage starts before birth when their mothers reported more limited diets in terms of green leafy vegetables and sufficient quantity of food. Index children are more likely than subsequent children to be born at home OR = 1.91 (95% CI: 1.01-3.61), less than 24 months from an older sibling OR = 21.26 (95% CI: 4.39-102.85) and at a birthweight below 2500g OR = 1.92 (95% CI: 1.17-3.16). In their first years of life, index children were more likely than subsequent children to live in households with inadequate income (42.3% vs 31.8% p = 0.009), experience acute malnutrition (25.3% vs 17.4% p = 0.011); and die (0.7% vs 0.2% p = 0.038).Interpretation
Being born after abortion denial is associated with economic and nutritional disadvantage in early childhood, underscoring the intergenerational consequences of restricting access to abortion.Funding
The U.S. National Institute of Health and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Related
- Psychological and anthropometric outcomes in preschool children exposed to antenatal maternal obesity: modelling of early life risk factors.
- Lifestyle, Dietary Habits, and Modifiable Risk Factors in Patients with Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Protocol for a Prospective Observational Study with Development and Validation of a Composite Lifestyle and Nutrition Questionnaire
- Maternal microbiota and fetal brain development: a multidisciplinary review of cognitive, neurological, and metabolic outcomes
- Association of a structured nutrition-centred multidisciplinary supportive-care program with treatment tolerance and clinical outcomes in patients undergoing precision radiotherapy for head and neck cancer: a prospective cohort study
- Quality-of-Life and Weight Loss Outcomes Following an Individualized Nutrition and Physical Activity Counseling Program in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Prospective Single-Arm Pilot Study
BibTeX
@article{foster2026antenatal,
title = {{Antenatal care, birth outcomes, health, development, maternal bonding and nutrition among children of women seeking abortion in a health facility in Nepal (2019-2024): a prospective cohort study.}},
author = {Diana Greene Foster and Rachel Murro and Corinne H Rocca and Veronica Sharon Dahlkamp and Mahesh C Puri},
journal = {The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1016/j.lansea.2026.100831},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42948311},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Antenatal care, birth outcomes, health, development, maternal bonding and nutrition among children of women seeking abortion in a health facility in Nepal (2019-2024): a prospective cohort study.
AU - Diana Greene Foster
AU - Rachel Murro
AU - Corinne H Rocca
AU - Veronica Sharon Dahlkamp
AU - Mahesh C Puri
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/03
JO - The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia
DO - 10.1016/j.lansea.2026.100831
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42948311
AB - Background The consequences of abortion denial for women's lives are increasingly recognized, but little is known about the well-being of children born as a result of denied abortion. We compared early childhood outcomes between children born due to abortion denial (index children) and children born from a subsequent pregnancy after their mother received an abortion (subsequent children).Methods Longitudinal data from the five-year prospective cohort Nepal Turnaway Study (2019-2024) include index children and subsequent children. We assessed nutritional status, health, development, and household conditions through maternal report and direct anthropometric measurement. We employed mixed effects models with propensity score weighting to balance differences in maternal characteristics at time of abortion-seeking.Findings Differences between index (n = 274) and subsequent (n = 421) children are to the detriment of index children. Disadvantage starts before birth when their mothers reported more limited diets in terms of green leafy vegetables and sufficient quantity of food. Index children are more likely than subsequent children to be born at home OR = 1.91 (95% CI: 1.01-3.61), less than 24 months from an older sibling OR = 21.26 (95% CI: 4.39-102.85) and at a birthweight below 2500g OR = 1.92 (95% CI: 1.17-3.16). In their first years of life, index children were more likely than subsequent children to live in households with inadequate income (42.3% vs 31.8% p = 0.009), experience acute malnutrition (25.3% vs 17.4% p = 0.011); and die (0.7% vs 0.2% p = 0.038).Interpretation Being born after abortion denial is associated with economic and nutritional disadvantage in early childhood, underscoring the intergenerational consequences of restricting access to abortion.Funding The U.S. National Institute of Health and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
SN - 2772-3682
ER -