Australia’s miscarriage data fails to capture thousands of early losses

The Hidden Reality of Early Pregnancy Loss in Australia

We often say that behind every statistic is a human story, but thousands of Australian families experiencing early pregnancy loss never make it into official counts at all. Brooke Walker, a 35-year-old from Melbourne, knows this invisible grief intimately. She experienced her first of two miscarriages in 2019 at around six weeks gestation, followed by a second loss at around five weeks gestation in 2024.

Reflecting on her deep desire to start a family, Ms Walker shared, I was always the babysitter of the family. Everyone always called me the mum of the family because I was always wanting to be around their babies and help them and look after them. She added, I just knew that one day I wanted to be a mum. Her path to motherhood proved far from easy, complicated by the breakdown of an engagement and exhausting medical appointments.

Her initial loss brought profound trauma. After presenting to an emergency room in 2019, she waited up to seven hours for a physician, only to face cold dismissal. In the hours following the loss, a doctor told her, If you didn’t take a pregnancy test so early, you wouldn’t have even known you were pregnant.

That encounter left a lasting scar. I thought to myself, no wonder why people don’t go to a hospital or talk about a miscarriage when you’re treated like that so early on, she reflected. That miscarriage, and the experience I had, just sticks with me all the time. My second miscarriage, I feel it, but it’s not as much as the first one.

Why National Health Data Excludes Thousands of Women

The most devastating part of the entire experience for many is that early losses remain excluded from national health data. I definitely think it is quite sad that the data doesn’t reflect the true number of miscarriages that we do have, Ms Walker noted.

New national data published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare revealed that three in 10 women had previously experienced at least one miscarriage, while one in 10 had two or more. Unfortunately, these statistics fail to present a thorough picture. The numbers were collected from just five states and territories, and women who didn’t go on to have a subsequent birth after their loss were excluded entirely.

Dr Hector Georgiou from Melbourne IVF explained that much of the data is built around births, meaning the recording of pregnancies ending earlier uses a much less comprehensive system. He elaborated, If a woman miscarries and never goes on to have a registered birth (whether by choice, secondary infertility, or simply not yet), she’s invisible to the collection. Indeed, they have experienced a significant reproductive and often very emotional event. Yet, our national data systems don’t necessarily record it.

Better data is ultimately about more than statistics; it is about making sure that people’s experiences are visible and that services are designed around the reality of their lives, Dr Georgiou said. He added, In my day-to-day practice, I see how much pregnancy loss can affect people’s confidence in their ability to become parents, their decisions about future pregnancies and, sometimes, their wider sense of wellbeing. We need to make sure that those experiences are recognised and supported.

Finding Hope and Advocacy Through IVF and Solo Motherhood

Refusing to let her journey end in grief, Ms Walker made the decision to pursue a third attempt at pregnancy as a solo mother by choice. Today, she is 17 weeks pregnant with a baby boy after turning to IVF.

I don’t want to say it’s easy, because I don’t think IVF or anything about it is easy, but it’s been a really positive experience. I’ve got so much family and so much support around me that it’s made the journey a seamless one, she shared. I wouldn’t change it for the world, to be honest. Everything led me to where I am now.

During her first visit, Dr Hector identified a health concern involving her blood, placing her on a regimen of aspirin throughout her IVF treatment, her entire pregnancy, and up until six weeks post-partum. Naturally, her current pregnancy carries a degree of caution. I have so much anxiety around the pregnancy because of my previous losses, she admitted.

That anxiety drives her determination to speak out. Even though her earlier losses remain unrecorded in official statistics, she wants to ensure they still count. I think it’s really hard because miscarriage is such a taboo subject. So I don’t think a lot of people speak about it. Which is really sad, she said. I am very open in terms of my miscarriages. I will tell anyone who listens just to make other people feel less alone.