Pregnancy is considered to be high-risk for individuals with this defect. The increased blood supply and cardiac output may cause upper body hypertension, which heightens the risks of heart failure, rupture of the aorta, and stroke.

Even those women who have had the repair operation for this defect should be closely monitored during pregnancy because of the risks of aneurysms forming at the point of repair, enlargement of the aorta, and other symptoms. Those patients whose coarctation was repaired with a patch are more susceptible to aneurysms than those who received a stent or balloon angioplasty.

Anyone with congenital heart disease, repaired or non-repaired, should consult with their cardiologist prior to becoming pregnant to review the risks.