BORN Impact

The loss of a baby after 20 weeks gestation and before birth (called stillbirth) is a devastating pregnancy outcome. Stillbirth can be due to illness, infection, trauma or exposure to toxic substances, abnormalities in the baby, problems with the placenta that supplies the baby with blood flow and nutrition, or problems in the umbilical cord. However, in many cases there is no clear reason found at the time the baby dies.

In the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, pregnant individuals in Ontario and across Canada had higher rates of hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) admission relative to non-pregnant individuals of similar age.