Wieke Beumer was heavily pregnant during her PhD research at the Amsterdam UMC into unintended pregnancies. “I was of course very curious about the stories, which were sometimes quite moving.”
The enormous resilience of the participants in her interviews is what Wieke Beumer remembers most. “Whether they had carried the unintended pregnancy to term or had an abortion, it no longer played such a role,” she says. “While it was often only a year ago. The decision had been made and life went on. I was almost ready to burst at the time and above all I had the feeling: how lucky I am that I could choose to want and keep this pregnancy.”
She then starts a mini-reference about the term ‘unintended’ in pregnancy. “It is actually a policy term that does not fully describe it. It implies that the pregnancy was unplanned, an accident, or unwanted. In reality, it is not that black and white. Many people in my research did indeed want to have children. For example, they wanted to become pregnant in a few years, but suddenly they were pregnant. I have also spoken to people who had no roof over their heads, but when the child announced itself, they really wanted it.”
“The planning of a pregnancy is an illusion. It is estimated that 28 percent of pregnancies in the Netherlands are unintended. Worldwide it is half of the pregnancies. People often plan a pregnancy, but it just doesn’t work out. Some then get the feeling that they are failing. And vice versa, if a pregnancy presents itself unexpectedly, people sometimes feel stupid and guilty.”
Education
Shame plays a major role in an unintended pregnancy, says Beumer. “I don’t think that’s strange at all. Because sex education at school teaches you what you can do to prevent pregnancy. In these times of neoliberalism, women’s own responsibility is also emphasized, as if they could easily have prevented it.”
“Contraception often does not work well,” she says. “Many people experience side effects. Some doctors do not listen carefully to the stories, so people go shopping themselves. Contraception is not free either. The pill is also not a cure-all. We sometimes forget to take it, or do not take it at the same time every day. People are also not good at assessing risks. We heard stories of people for whom things never went wrong, and now they suddenly do. More information about contraception is not the ultimate solution. If people want sex, they will not think quickly contraception, that’s not very exciting.
The biggest lesson Beumer learned from her own pregnancy was its unpredictability. “Despite the knowledge I have. Being pregnant is not all fun. I was, say, 95 percent happy with it. I had many physical complaints during and after my pregnancy. I was not prepared for that at all. When I talked about it with friends, I suddenly heard one unpleasant story after another, sometimes long after the birth. Why don’t women just tell each other that? It would have helped a lot if I had known that.”
“A few weeks after giving birth, I was sitting in a park with a friend, telling them how much pain I was in. Then a woman came up to me, who had apparently heard my story. “I’m going to interrupt you for a moment,” she said. “I find it bizarre that you are telling her all this, you are scaring her, she will soon no longer want a child.” Actually absurd what that woman did, but she meant well. It mainly tells me how taboo it is to talk about pain during pregnancy. I find that strange. Everyone complains about their work sometimes, but that doesn’t mean you suddenly have a shitty job.”
Myths
Abortion has its myths, Beumer experienced during her research. “People often think that abortion only occurs among teenagers,” she says. “Wrongly. That is only a very small group. Most women who have an abortion are between 25 and 35.”
“Regret after abortion is also such a myth. That is very rare. I mainly researched the impact of unintended pregnancy on the development of depression and anxiety. This turned out to be very minimal. People who were mentally healthy during pregnancy are also mentally healthy afterwards. Both women who carried the pregnancy to term and those who terminated it.”
“Such an unintended pregnancy can also lead to women approaching their lives differently and more consciously. They start to think carefully about their relationship, and sometimes break it off because they are in an intense relationship and do not want to have a child with that partner.”
The launch of Thuisabortus.nl at the end of March – the site on which women can order an abortion pill digitally, without the physical intervention of a doctor – led to a lot of commotion. Beumer also has an opinion about it. “Let me first say that I give women who unintentionally become pregnant as much attention as possible. As far as I am concerned, online abortion care is not a replacement but a supplement to regular abortion care. But I find this fuss, also from healthcare professionals, very striking. It mainly says to me: ‘Don’t make it too easy for women to get an abortion. This puts abortion in the spotlight again.”
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“That site did not just appear out of the blue. Don’t forget: only 3.5 percent of general practitioners prescribe the abortion pill. Abortion clinics are sometimes a long journey for women outside the Randstad. And the World Health Organization (WHO) considers the digital abortion pill to be a safe and good form of care. So what are we talking about? I read a strong quote in an opinion piece that general practitioners often complain about the enormous workload, but that some suddenly want to look the women straight in the eye during an abortion. As if the women should have to answer for themselves.”
The fact that abortion is still included in the Criminal Code is a thorn in Beumer’s side. “It confirms that it is not normal care, but it is. Abortion is a form of care that people sometimes need in their lives. Just like you sometimes need to go to a fertility clinic or have your ears syringed out. Let me be clear, I am not so much pro-abortion, but pro-choice. So also pro-child.”
Men
Many men Beumer interviewed said that abortion is ultimately the woman’s choice, ‘It’s her body’. They sometimes do not know which contraception their wife uses. Beumer: “A man said during an online interview: ‘I think my wife is on the pill’. And then I heard the girlfriend in the background: ‘No, man. I had that IUD put in four months ago. You were even there.’”
“On the other hand, women often want to arrange it themselves. I also did not take my partner to the doctor for a discussion about contraception.” Laughing: “Then I realized that I had always paid for the pill and that from now on we would pay for it from the joint account.”
Beumer currently works as a postdoc at Erasmus University. She conducts research into sexual misconduct. “A wicked problem“, she says. “One in two young women experiences it. I am going to try to build a bridge to practice. To ensure that all the knowledge we have reaches the people it concerns as best as possible. Victims, perpetrators, but also the youth worker who has his feet in the mud. He does not need a policy report so much, but more practical tools, for example about how to deal with boys who are receptive to the manosphere.”
Who is
Wieke Beumer?
- Born
- In Utrecht, 1993.
- Loves
- Running and cycling. If I’m not taking care of my child and not working, that’s basically what I’m doing. Favorite: Demi Vollering.
- First source of inspiration
- My grandfather. He has a PhD in mathematics and physics. After he stopped working he started studying philosophy, we always had great conversations about that.
- Second source of inspiration
- Ellen Laan, my first supervisor. She has made the taboo subject of sex, especially female sexual pleasure, accessible to many people. In addition, she was super sweet.
- Occupation
- Social scientist.
