Women who have lost a baby prefer the term ‘pregnancy loss’ over ‘miscarriage’

Mehali Patel of the baby loss charity Sands said: ‘The words used by health professionals about pregnancy loss can have a big impact on mental and physical wellbeing.’ Photograph: Dmitrii Marchenko/Getty Images

Women who have lost a baby often dislike the language used by medical professionals and would prefer the term “pregnancy loss” over “miscarriage”, research has found.

More than six in 10 women (61%) who had lost a baby between 18 and 23 weeks of pregnancy said it was unacceptable for doctors, midwives and nurses to use the word “miscarriage”.