1 In 4 Pregnancies, Not 1 In 4 Women

Most people don't realize how common pregnancy loss is, but even the people who do often hear the phrase "1 in 4".

"I am 1 in 4." you might read on social media.

It can get easy to confuse 1 in 4 pregnancies with women. It's important that we make that distinction, because the numbers are very different.

When you say 1 in 4 women, that means that a group of 4 women may have 3 who have nothing but happy, healthy pregnancies and one doesn't. It implies that pregnancy loss is something that affects only one kind of woman, and not others.

The reality is that it affects 1 in 4 pregnancies. Since most women become pregnant more than once in their lives, that drastically increases the chances that she'll suffer a loss.

That means that it affects a whole lot more than 1 in 4 women.

In fact, most women I know who have children, have also had a loss. I rarely have a conversation about miscarriage that doesn't include other women sharing their own stories off loss.

Every pregnancy is different, and each one carries the risk of not taking a baby home nine months later.

This might seem like a trivial fact, but it's not. It's a critical difference that tells us that miscarriage and stillbirth affect many more women than we think.

The faces of miscarriage and stillbirth are all around you, and I can guarantee it's someone you know. Let's start talking about it.

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