Pregnancy loss can be a deeply distressing experience and the support you give can make all the difference to helping women through this difficult time.

Miscarriage is, sadly, an all-too-common event – about one in every four pregnancies ends this way. Another one in 80 pregnancies is ectopic – that is when the pregnancy starts developing in the wrong place, usually in one of the fallopian tubes. A further one in 600 pregnancies is diagnosed as a molar (or hydatidiform mole) pregnancy – something very few people have even heard of.

Miscarriage is the most common form of pregnancy loss, affecting around one in four pregnancies.

The Miscarriage Assocation has lots of information about miscarriage on their website, along with links to relevant leaflets. 

They also provide information and support on two less common kinds of pregnancy loss: ectopic pregnancy and molar pregnancy.

Pregnancy loss from 24 weeks onwards is referred to as stillbirth.  You’ll find more information  about stillbirth here.

In this section you’ll find information to help you understand more about miscarriage*, ectopic pregnancy and molar pregnancy and how these might affect an employee at work.

Thoughtful support and management can make a real difference to how people cope with miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy.

Information for employers and managers

In this section you’ll find information to help you understand more about miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy and molar pregnancy and how these might affect an employee at work.

Read more:

Information for employees who experience miscarriage

In this section you’ll find information about your rights, and support to help you manage your relationship with work alongside your recovery.

Read more:

Information for colleagues

In this section, you’ll find information to help you offer support to colleagues who experience miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or molar pregnancy.

*The term ‘miscarriage’ includes miscarriage, ectopic and molar pregnancy. If a baby is stillborn after 24 weeks gestation, the law and employees’ rights are very different. Maternity Action has more information. All information is based on UK law and practices only.

Source: The Miscarriage Assocation

The Maternity Trauma and Loss Care Service - also known as M-TLC - provides:

  • Pregnancy loss
  • Still birth and neonatal loss
  • Birth trauma and women who have a fear of childbirth (tokophobia).

The service offers women psychological support through a combination of psychological therapy, specialist midwifery input and peer support. There's a particular focus on women whose early life experiences make them more vulnerable to trauma.

How to access the service

The service accepts both self-referrals and referrals from health and social care professionals, such as GPs, midwives or health visitors. Click here for more.

  • Ectopic pregnancy: This leaflet by the Miscarriage Assocation aims to explain what ectopic pregnancy is, to provide you with information and to answer some of the most common questions about both facts and feelings. We hope this will help at what can be a very difficult time.
  • Molar pregnancy: This leaflet by the Miscarriage Assocation for women and their partners who have been affected by a molar pregnancy (also called a hydatidiform mole).

  • The Miscarriage Association has developed an e-learning resource to support health professionals in providing the best care you can to women experiencing pregnancy loss.
Talk to us

We are here to help support you.  If there is anything you would like to get in touch with us about: 

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