Great question, I really want to know the answer! This study says “13% of non-gravid [not pregnant] women report fear of childbirth sufficient to postpone or avoid pregnancy.” Separately, roughly 15% of women never have children, so that puts a ceiling on how big the effects could be on having any children. I suspect fear of childbirth is not a top reason for the 15%...but that’s not based on much data.
A woman with one kid might choose not to have a second kid because of the unpleasantness of childbirth, after directly experiencing it, which might be a bigger effect than just looking at women who chose to have no kids.
That said, C-sections aren’t pleasant, and I’d be surprised if this was a bigger factor than the rest of pregnancy and caring for a newborn.
Great question, I really want to know the answer! This study says “13% of non-gravid [not pregnant] women report fear of childbirth sufficient to postpone or avoid pregnancy.” Separately, roughly 15% of women never have children, so that puts a ceiling on how big the effects could be on having any children. I suspect fear of childbirth is not a top reason for the 15%...but that’s not based on much data.
A woman with one kid might choose not to have a second kid because of the unpleasantness of childbirth, after directly experiencing it, which might be a bigger effect than just looking at women who chose to have no kids.
That said, C-sections aren’t pleasant, and I’d be surprised if this was a bigger factor than the rest of pregnancy and caring for a newborn.