In this episode, Sam chats with the founder and executive director of the Early Pregnancy Loss Coalition (EPLC), Isy Oderberg who shares her personal journey through seven pregnancy losses which ultimately inspired her to write a book.

A key focus of the discussion is the central role of Reproductive Justice, a concept that combines reproductive health with social justice. Isy stresses that the work must embed diversity and be driven by centring marginalized people who experience compounded layers of disadvantage (intersectional disadvantage).

The conversation highlights that quality care extends beyond medical treatment and requires health providers and support services to recognize and allow for the trauma experienced by marginalized groups.

Despite the historical oversight of the sector, Sam and Isy agree on their immense hope due to recent successes and ongoing momentum:

• Policy Wins: The sector successfully advocated for and achieved the first ever dedicated miscarriage funding from the Australian government.
• Clinical Guidelines: They worked with RANZCOG to support the development and release of clinical guidelines for early pregnancy loss, a massive win that provides doctors with a standard for care.
• Future Research: The ultimate goal is to get medical research funded to identify new treatable factors in the recurrent miscarriage space, giving people more options and reducing the overall number of losses.

Isy concludes that the miscarriage sector acts as a "canary in the coal mine," offering broad lessons for improving how society talks about grief and addressing medical misogyny more generally. She believes the 1 in 4 statistic is a downplay and that every person will be touched by loss in some way.

EARLY PREGNANCY LOSS SUPPORT
If you or someone you know has experienced miscarriage or early pregnancy loss, please know you are not alone.

• For crisis support, please call Lifeline - 13 11 14.
• Access all our support
• Connect through Live Chat with Peer Support
• Join Online Communities
• Call out Pregnancy Loss helpline delivered by PANDA
• Join the Circle of support
• Follow @pinkelephantssupport on Instagram.

STACEY JUNE LEWIS
You can follow our host Stacey on her personal Instagram account where she shares some of her lived experience.