First Minister Nicola Sturgeon talks about miscarriage
13th August 2019
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon shared her thoughts on miscarriage yesterday on ITV’s ‘Loose Women‘*, saying that she would support the introduction of bereavement leave after miscarriage. The First Minister, who has talked previously about her experience of miscarriage, talked also about the need to remove the stigma associated with miscarriage, about childlessness and about the impact of miscarriage on partners.
Miss Sturgeon said: “I feel really strongly about removing the stigma around miscarriage. People don’t talk about being pregnant until after three months. The whole implication of that is if you miscarry you keep it to yourself. It’s a difficult thing to go through, but when you can’t talk to anybody apart from your partner, I think that makes it more difficult.
On miscarriage leave, she noted: “I don’t think you should have to take leave if you don’t feel that’s something you need to do. But I think there should be much greater understanding and society generally should try and adapt a bit more.”
Regarding chidlessness by choice rather than by circumstance, she said: “That was the assumption that was always made about me, that I took this really hard-nosed decision that I was going to prioritise a career over having children. I did give a lot of priority to having a career. I guess it wasn’t until later that I started to think about do I want children or not and well, I’ve said what happened. I don’t think women should be judged for the reasons why they do or don’t have children. Men aren’t, and it’s one of these areas where we need to see progress.”
Asked whether her husband was disappointed about the miscarriage, she said: “Of course, that’s another part of the taboo. If it’s hard for a woman to talk about it, it’s possibly even harder for a man. It’s heart-breaking and really traumatic for a man as well.”
You can see our information and resources on feelings after miscarriage here and we have support and information for partners here.
*You can watch the interview here, from 23 mins 28 secs in.
