Pregnancy Anxiety as a Social Symptom: Personal Accounts of Pregnant Women During the COVID‐19 Pandemic in Quebec

ABSTRACT

This article presents the results of a study conducted in Quebec (Canada), in the Montreal and Abitibi‐Temiscamingue regions, with forty pregnant women interviewed between 2020 and 2021 during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Based on interpretive phenomenological analysis, the study highlights pregnancy‐related anxiety exacerbated by reduced medical care, the exclusion of partners, social isolation, and the disruption of pregnancy‐related rituals. While pregnancy is generally a significant transition in terms of identity and social life, women experienced this period in a context marked by loneliness, uncertainty, and increased mental strain. Public health measures focused on managing biological risks have paid little attention to their psychosocial and emotional needs. The exclusion of partners from medical appointments also revealed the limited institutional recognition of their role in the perinatal journey. The article contributes to the sociological understanding of pregnancy anxiety by framing it as a socially constructed phenomenon. It emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary approaches and calls for a revision of public health policies to better support pregnant women and fully recognize what giving birth means—for them and for society.