SUN on Sunday readers have edged a vital petition calling for better miscarriage care to within 25,000 signatures of a 250,000 milestone.
Started by baby charity Tommy’s, it wants specialist NHS help made available to women after EVERY loss.
Two weeks ago, we launched our Miscarriage of Justice campaign with Tommy’s, and today it is backed by a doctor who suffered three miscarriages but got no NHS help simply because her losses were not consecutive.
Anita Raja said: “I’m a medic but didn’t how bad miscarriage was. It affected my relationship with my husband, with everything.”
The 36-year-old whose husband Nadir, 37, is also a doctor, added: “I’ll never get over what happened. Women should get help after every miscarriage. Why is the NHS waiting for women to have three before they get help they need?”
She finally got support from Tommy’s, who research miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth.
Nadir said: “They held my hand when I needed it the most.
Risk of suicide
“So please sign the petition. Women who’ve had miscarriages or are at high-risk need specialist investigations and medication but also psychological support.”
We also want the postcode lottery to end so care is standard and higher-risk women get better help from the start. There are about 250,000 miscarriages a year in the UK.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s wife Carrie, 33, who is expecting their second child, told how her own trauma earlier this year left her “heartbroken”.
It can deeply affect both parents, almost quadrupling the risk of suicide and doubling that of depression, warns Tommy’s.
Each case raises the danger of another by around ten per cent, and black women are at 40 per cent higher risk than white women.
Anita’s first loss was in 2010. She said: “It was soon after getting married. I must have been seven weeks pregnant and didn’t realise what was happening when I had bleeding and intense pain.
“After my husband suggested a pregnancy test I realised. We were upset but put it behind us.”
In 2013, she had son Nirvan, now seven, but two years later lost another baby. She said: “It affected me a lot and I felt unsupported. From a medical point of view, it is seen as something that can’t be helped. But women need psychological support. I tried to get on with life but it was very hard.”
Two years on, she got pregnant once more but a 20-week gender scan revealed her baby had died.
She said: “I was at Birmingham Women’s Hospital and Dr Jay Ghosh from Tommy’s came round and asked if I wanted support, via the charity, and investigation of why I miscarried. I was so lucky. I needed that. They did tests, gave me scans and found scars on my uterus from surgery I’d had in my teens, which could have been causing the losses.”
In 2019, pregnant again, she turned to Tommy’s to calm her. Son Rumi was born and is now well.
Today is Rainbow Baby Day, celeb-rating children born after loss, and Anita said: “Rumi has helped me heal but I’ll never forget my other babies.
“I now push for women who have miscarried to get NHS help.”
NOW YOU SIGN IT TOO
MORE than 20 organisations involved in maternal health, including the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, have signed a letter from Tommy’s to Health Secretary Sajid Javid calling for changes to miscarriage care in the UK.
Tommy’s petition currently stands at 222,547 signatures – but with YOUR help they can reach 250,000.
To sign, go to: actions.tommys.org/a/miscarriage-petition
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