Fertility Intentions and Disability in Canada: Increased barriers, similar goals?


Leah Houseman, University of Saskatchewan

The decision to have a child is among the most significant and life-trajectory altering choices a person will make; however, those with physical or mental disabilities face additional burdens that may affect their economic, emotional, or biological ability to have a child. Nonetheless, women with disabilities express similar desires to have children as those without disabilities, but their intentions and certainty of achieving their fertility intentions are lower. According to Statistics Canada, a significant portion of childbearing-aged Canadians report living with at least one disability. According to Statistics Canada, this number was around 14.6% of those aged 15-44 in 2017 and as high as 23% as of 2021. The growing body of work addressing the barriers to child-having for those with disabilities mainly consists of exploratory qualitative work or only considers the American or European contexts, leaving a dearth of research addressing the intersection of disability and fertility intentions in the Canadian context. Without a clear understanding of the fertility intentions of disabled Canadians, a significant portion of the population’s reproductive healthcare needs will continue to be disregarded, and future policy decisions aimed at removing the barriers to parenthood will be ill-informed. Supporting all people in achieving their fertility desires will not only increase individual autonomy and fulfillment, but will also increase Canada’s fertility rate, which is at an all-time low of 1.33 children per woman, which many argue is threatening our social safety net. This paper asks three questions: i) how do the fertility intentions of the disabled population compare to the non-disabled population; ii) do fertility intentions differ by socio-demographic characteristics like age, sex, and socio-economic status or by severity and type of disability; and iii) are any of these factors more or less important for the disabled population than the non-disabled population? This research will consider the combination of increased individual autonomy produced by the second demographic transition and the theory of planned behaviour to explore how one’s social location influences one’s fertility intentions and whether those with mental or physical disabilities experience greater barriers to realizing their fertility intentions. Preliminary results indicate that Canadians living with a disability report intending to have nearly the same number of children compared to those without a disability, varying based on social location, suggesting that their family formation goals are similar, while the barriers to achieving these goals are often greater. Ultimately, this project will test the hypothesis that the fertility intentions and realization confidence of disabled persons are moderated by one’s social location to a greater degree than the non-disabled population. This study will utilize the 2017 General Social Survey, a large-scale, nationally representative survey that collected information on disability and fertility intentions, and a combination of descriptive statistics and Ordinary Least Squares regression analyses with interaction terms to demonstrate the socio-demographic characteristics of the fertility intentions for the Canadian disabled population. This paper will address the literature gap by providing an examination of the Canadian disabled population while considering socio-demographic compounding factors to compare the fertility intentions of Canadians living with or without a disability. When moving forward with the development of future policy decisions aimed at removing the barriers to parenthood, this research will highlight the additional needs of Canada’s childbearing-aged disabled population who wish to be parents.

This paper will be presented at the following session: