When a family experiences a miscarriage, grief can be devastating. In a moment, all the joy of a wanted pregnancy is completely gone.
This was the case for Chrissy Teigen and many others like her who have a miscarriage later in their pregnancy.
Two years, ago, Teigan lost her son, Jack, at 20 weeks of her pregnancy. It was determined by doctors that to save her life, the baby would have to be delivered only halfway through the pregnancy.
It was only after processing her grief for some time, that Teigen began to understand that what was done to her was an abortion.
One in four women experience a miscarriage and that means that most people know someone who has had this experience.
After you have dealt with a deep level of grief for the loss of your hopes and dreams for a child, it is not unusual to get a letter in your mailbox it has the words “spontaneous abortion” on your records in the diagnosis section. And if you had a D&C or D&E, it may just say “abortion.”
This can come as a shock to the grieving parents, to see the emotionally charged word “abortion” when the child was deeply wanted can be difficult. It was for Teigan whose experience was not based on a decision but was the process of what happened to their bodies.
When Teigen shared her experience on social media, hundreds of people shared their own stories of sadness.
One commenter, Jennifer, wrote, “I remember reading ‘habitual aborter’ in my medical record. It was horrible and anxiety inducing. I had three miscarriages back to back while trying very hard to have a baby. I was dealing with a lot. I was not ready to read that in my records.”
Another commenter, Julie, said “I remember reading ‘spontaneous abortion’ in my medical records after a very much wanted pregnancy that ended in miscarriage. It was devastating to read that. There’s a reason doctors and nurses don’t use that term with women going through that.”
Stephanie shared, “I had a D&E because I was bleeding so bad they were afraid I was going to bleed to death. Heartbeat was gone. 3 weeks later I opened the mail and opened up a report with the word ABORTION on it. I screamed and cried for two hours.”
Somehow, we have to come up with a better medical term to describe what these mothers experienced.
I told you all we had a miscarriage because I thought that was what it was. But it was an abortion, and we were heartbroken and grateful all at once. It just took me over a year to realize it. https://t.co/x5XPu7pg2S
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) September 16, 2022
