Six Months is Not a Miscarriage

As you may have already heard, British recording artist Lily Allen's unborn son died earlier this week. She was six months along. I was heartbroken for her and her partner Sam Cooper, as I am heartbroken for every parent who has outlived their child. My heartbreak was joined by frustration when countless news outlets began covering this tragic story using the inaccurate term "miscarriage" to describe the death of Allen and Cooper's little boy.

Thankfully, I belong to a community of intelligent and passionate parents who are always willing to stand up for one another. One of those parents is Sweet Pea Project's own Beth Gauthier, who has herself experienced the devastating loss of a child through both a miscarriage and a stillbirth. Beth penned the following letter to the Associated Press.


Associated Press,

It is sadness mixed with anger that has compelled me to contact you. You published a story, which was then run by too many other sources to count, that Singer Lily Allen suffered a miscarriage. I am outraged that such a highly respected news source could not be bothered to use proper terminology. In failing to do so, the Associated Press not only misrepresented the terrible tragedy that Lily Allen and Sam Cooper have endured, but most likely have added to their suffering. According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (as well as most other reputable medical resources) a miscarriage is the unintended loss of a pregnancy prior to 20 weeks gestation. This is not what happened to Allen and Cooper.

Armed with only the basic information that she reported to the hospital with cramping and then spent the weekend there trying to save their son, I can tell you that what happened to Allen and Cooper was either a stillbirth or premature delivery. A stillbirth involves a baby over 20 weeks gestation who dies in utero. The mother then labors and delivers her child. These children are swaddled and held, photographed and cried over. If their son was born alive and died shortly after, the misuse of the term miscarriage is even more reprehensible. I think that it is your duty to write some sort of retraction or addition to your original piece that validates the existence of their son and their struggle to save his life, and differentiates it from the very tragic but completely different experience of losing a child to miscarriage.

--
Beth Gauthier
Treasurer
Sweet Pea Project
PO Box 10351
Lancaster, PA 17605
sweetpeaproject.org
Beth@sweetpeaproject.org

To Lily Allen and Sam Cooper,
we extend our deepest sympathy
after the death of your much loved
and hoped for little boy.