Unhappy endings: a feminist reappraisal of the women's health movement from the vantage of pregnancy loss

Genomic susceptibility‐testing and pregnancy: something old, something new

“…At the same time, as noted by Layne (2003), miscarriage and stillbirth remain a visual taboo. All the pregnancy-manuals, whether mainstream, alternative or feminist, are dotted with evocative images of new mothers with wrinkly newborns in their arms and on their bellies.…”

“…As Layne (2003) states the silence that surrounds these intensely sad events makes it much harder for women to bear and find support in bearing these painful experiences. Thomas' beautiful, bluish baby-pictures alone and in the arms of a mother and a father make a statement about Thomas' individuality, standing in opposition to the clinical tendency to define miscarriages and stillbirths as "events" and something to get over.…”

“…A sense of understanding and togetherness is particularly important for women who have experienced stillbirth, often considered an unspeakable taboo (Layne, 2003). Giving advice on anti-coagulants for women who have experienced a pregnancy loss may also be literally life-saving (Gris et al, 2004), even if the same is not necessarily so true for women with thrombophilia, who have not had miscarriages.…”

Recovering from stillbirth: the effects of making and sharing memories on maternal mental health

“…Most prospective parents are not prepared for the possibility of stillbirth (Layne, 2003), so it is a shocking and highly emotional experience that can impact negatively on the mental health of all family members, particularly the mother (e.g., Badenhorst, Riches, Turton, & Hughes, 2006;Boyle, Vance, Najman, & Thearle, 1996;Cacciatore, Schnebly, & Frǿen, 2009;DeFrain, Martens, Stork, & Stork, 1990;Rǻdestad, Steineck, Nordin, & Sjögren, 1996;Turton, Hughes, Evans, & Fainman, 2001;Vance et al, 1995). Even in high-income countries where professional psychological support is available, the incidence of depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms is about 20% in mothers of stillborn babies (Frǿen et al, 2011).…”

Conceptualizing reproductive loss: A social sciences perspective

“…Layne, a feminist anthropologist, argues: … emphasis on happy endings, whether believed to be the result of medical intervention or women's natural inborn powers to reproduce, exacerbates the experience of those whose pregnancies do not end happily. (Layne, 2003(Layne, , p. 1881 Reproductive loss refers to experiences of miscarriage, stillbirth, perinatal and infant death, as well as maternal death -and defined more broadly -to the loss of 'normal' reproductive experience such as that associated with infertility and assisted reproduction.…”