Donald Trump’s claim that taking paracetamol in pregnancy causes autism is not only baseless, it’s cruel. It’s another tired chapter in the long history of maternal blame and shame.
We’ve seen this before. Autism was once pinned on so-called “refrigerator mothers.” Postnatal depression dismissed as weakness. Miscarriage blamed on women being “too stressed.” And now, in 2025, mothers are told that if they take the only safe pain relief available to them, they could be responsible for their child’s autism. There is no evidence. But there is a clear consequence: guilt.
And guilt is something mothers already carry in spades. As a clinical psychologist who works with thousands of mums, I hear it every day. Mothers whisper that they dread the 3am feed, then hate themselves for not cherishing every moment the way they’ve been told to. They break down in the bathroom after feeling touched out and overstimulated, then berate themselves for being weak. If they spend ten minutes scrolling on the couch, they feel like they’ve failed at playtime. If they rest when their body is screaming for sleep, they immediately fear they’re neglecting their baby.
Pregnancy and motherhood come with relentless pressure to do it all perfectly, with a smile, without complaint. Trump’s announcement doesn’t create a new fear; it feeds an old one: the belief that mothers are always one decision away from damaging their child forever. That belief doesn’t make women more careful; it corrodes them from the inside out.
We cannot understate the importance of this conversation. One in five mothers in Australia, around 60,000 women every year, experience perinatal anxiety or depression. Suicide is now the leading cause of maternal death in the first year after birth. These statistics represent women who felt so trapped in shame and self-blame that they didn’t survive it. Every extra layer of guilt added to women’s lives is another layer of risk.
That is why Trump’s words matter. The evidence is clear. Paracetamol is safe in pregnancy when used as directed. The largest Swedish study, tracking 2.5 million births, found no link between paracetamol and autism. Autism is not caused by Panadol any more than it was caused by vaccines. This is blatant misogyny dressed as a hooded cloak of science, a modern-day Handmaid’s Tale where women’s bodies are policed under the guise of protecting children.
We know that pregnancy is already painful enough. Migraines that split your skull, C-section wounds that throb for weeks, fevers that can harm both mother and baby, pain is part of the package. Paracetamol is the only safe, over-the-counter relief. Without it, women are told to grit their teeth and endure. But enduring pain doesn’t make women stronger, it leaves them more anxious, more depleted, and more at risk of depression.
Autism has become a pawn in a culture war, and mothers’ bodies the battlefield. The fallout lands not on the people who make these decisions, but on women’s nervous systems already stretched to breaking, on families already fragile, on mothers who are told yet again that their pain must be endured in silence.
Pregnancy is hard enough without these cruel layers of shame. What mothers need is reassurance that paracetamol is safe, recognition that maternal mental health matters, and relief from the endless cycle of blame.
If political leaders truly cared about mothers, they would stop telling us to be martyrs and start investing in supports that save lives: affordable perinatal mental health care, parental leave that includes both parents, and community networks that take the weight off women’s shoulders.
As a psychologist and as a mother of three, I want women to know this: you are not broken, you are not failing, and you are not to blame.
The real danger isn’t Panadol. The real danger is a culture that keeps mothers small with shame.
Words: Frances Bilbao
Frances Bilbao is a Clinical Psychologist and the Founder of Mums Matter Psychology, Australia’s largest perinatal telehealth service, providing bulk-billed support for parents navigating stress, anxiety and the challenges of early parenthood.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Longevity & Beauty Powered By Science – How Swisse Nutra Fuels Cellular Health
Native ad body.
