The Feminist Miscarriage Project

Miscarriage affects around 1 in 5 pregnancies and has recently received more public attention than ever before. Yet while conversations are opening up, only certain perspectives and voices are really coming through. Newspapers and magazines now regularly publish stories of ‘celebrity miscarriage’, for example, but the experiences of impoverished/racialised communities are routinely overlooked despite their higher miscarriage rates; and emotional responses other than grief and loss are rarely represented in public. Research also shows that the ‘baby loss’ framing of miscarriage is becoming increasingly institutionalised within advocacy organisations and the NHS, which for some people is appropriate and validating, but can be alienating for those who understand their miscarriages differently. Over the past couple of decades, academic studies have revealed the wide-ranging ways that people feel about and conceptualise their miscarriages, including but not limited to grief and loss. Yet no large-scale interdisciplinary research has yet been conducted, and existing studies focus predominantly on white/middle-class/heterosexual/non-disabled women. Like the wider public discourse, then, academic research has been insufficiently attentive to social diversity and inequality. The Feminist Miscarriage Project thus has two overarching aims: 1. to provoke an urgent shift in miscarriage scholarship, advocacy and clinical care - towards methodologies and protocols that incorporate the full range of miscarriage experiences; and 2. to diversify and change the public conversation. Over two years, the Project will advance a feminist approach to miscarriage rooted in bodily autonomy and lived experience, and steer miscarriage research in new intersectional and interdisciplinary directions. Ultimately, it will act as a springboard to a major future research project on ‘Pregnancy Endings’ that will explore connections between miscarriage, abortion and maternity experiences and promote a joined-up ‘full-spectrum’ model of care. To work towards these goals, the Project’s immediate core objectives are to: start bringing a wider range of miscarriage experiences to public awareness; establish an international, interdisciplinary network of miscarriage researchers to produce new intersectional research; and facilitate new dialogues between academics, clinical practitioners and miscarriage/abortion/maternity advocates. We will meet these objectives through a range of activities and outputs: an ambitious series of public engagement activities including focus-groups, a podcast series, art displays, a film screening and a photography exhibition; a top-quality website providing multi-media resources for academics, professionals and the general public; a major interdisciplinary conference culminating in a special academic journal issue; a pioneering knowledge exchange workshop with academics, clinicians and miscarriage/abortion/maternity advocates; and a co-authored interdisciplinary research article. Throughout the Project, we will challenge participants with bold and searching questions: What kind of research is needed to understand how social factors like race and class impact miscarriage experiences? How can we identify commonalities while attending to inequalities and differences? What are the connections and tensions between miscarriage and abortion advocacy? Is a more joined-up approach possible, and how might new alliances be forged? We are passionate about making real-world impact and will design our activities to benefit not only academics but also clinical practitioners, advocacy organisations, contributing artists and members of the public seeking alternative interpretative resources.