Wow, this is indeed a postgraduate level examination question. :) There are various effects of iron defficiency in pregnant woman. Iron is required for various tissues and enzyme formations. The main use of iron is formation of haemoglobine. Haemoglobin is a substance which is present in the red cells in the blood. It helps carrying the oxygen from the lungs to the different tissues in the body; and in pregnant woman even to the foetus also. Therefore iron defficiency causes suffocation of the tissues and the foetus. A condition where iron defficiencyleads to low haemoglobin level is called as anaemia. This leads to weakness and severe form is dangerous to the heart also. If there is iron defficiency in woman, it will lead to the iron defficiency of the foetus also and hence the iron storage in the foetal body will be low. After the birth, the foeus is not consuming suifficient iron through its diet and is completely relying upon the iron received from the mothers milk and the iron stored in its liver during the life within the mother s uterus. So the iron defficiency in mother will lead to iron defficiency and anaemia in the child also. Thus the child becomes vulnerable to many infectious diseases and the other defficiencies. Iron is also required for the production of cetain enzymes. Therefore iron defficiency causes a weakness even before the anaemia is detected. Sufficient iron supplimentation is the key to the maternal, foetal and neonatal health. Consume as much iron as possble. Most of the times oral iron is effective and iron in injectable form is not required. These are the important ill effects of iron defficiency.