What to Expect When You Have a Miscarriage
A no-nonsense explainer on how common it is, what the experience is like, and the choices you face
It is a simple fact that many pregnancies end in miscarriage.
The likelihood that a pregnancy will end is about 25% if we consider all pregnancies — even very early ones. The rate could be even higher if we consider those pregnancies that are barely detectable. What this means is that a very large share of women will have a miscarriage at some point. With a 25% miscarriage rate, if a woman has three pregnancies, there is close to a 60% chance she will miscarry one of them.
Miscarriage is more common for older women, and when we talk about early — first-trimester — miscarriage, a very large share (more than half, perhaps as much as 90%) of cases are caused by a chromosomal problem. Most of these miscarriages happen at random; that is, they are not part of a larger pattern of fertility problems.
Despite this reality, miscarriage is so infrequently discussed that you would not be faulted for thinking it is rare. Before I had children, I recall learning that a close friend had experienced a miscarriage in the past and thinking, “Wow, I can’t believe I know someone who has miscarried.” But as more and more of my friends began getting…
