Meghan Markle discusses her miscarriage in wake of Roe v. Wade reversal
"I think about how fortunate I felt to be able to have both of my children," said the Duchess of Sussex.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade, Meghan Markle is speaking out about women’s health and the miscarriage she suffered two years ago.
“I think about how fortunate I felt to be able to have both of my children,” Markle, 40, told Gloria Steinem and journalist Jessica Yellin in a Vogue interview after the U.S. Supreme Court decision, People is reporting.
The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry have two living children, 3-year-old son Archie Harrison and 1-year-old daughter Lilibet Diana. Markle said her husband’s reaction to the Roe v. Wade reversal “was guttural, like mine.”
“I know what it feels like to have a connection to what is growing inside of your body. What happens with our bodies is so deeply personal, which can also lead to silence and stigma, even though so many of us deal with personal health crises,” she said.
The former actress suffered a miscarriage before the birth of her daughter. She detailed the experience and her “unbearable grief” in a 2020 New York Times essay.
“I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child that I was losing my second,” she wrote saying that after changing Archie’s diaper, she felt a “sharp cramp” in her stomach. “Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband’s hand. I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears. Staring at the cold white walls, my eyes glazed over. I tried to imagine how we’d heal.”
In the Vogue feature, Markle noted: “I know what miscarrying feels like, which I’ve talked about publicly. The more that we normalize conversation about the things that affect our lives and bodies, the more people are going to understand how necessary it is to have protections in place.”
She also called on men to speak up amid the outrage over the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
“Men need to be vocal in this moment and beyond because these are decisions that affect relationships, families, and communities at large,” Markle said. “They may target women, but the consequences impact all of us. My husband and I talked about that a lot over the past few days. He’s a feminist too.”
Markle went on to say that, “Nobody should be forced to make a decision they do not want to make, or is unsafe, or puts their own life in jeopardy.”
She added, “Frankly, whether it’s a woman being put in an unthinkable situation, a woman not ready to start a family, or even a couple who deserve to plan their family in a way that makes the most sense for them, it’s about having a choice.”
Markle acknowledged that “for so many women right now, there is a sentiment of despair,” but she urges advocates for women’s reproductive rights to “band together and not wallow,” in a second People report on the interview.
“We have to do the work,” she added. “This moment requires unity — really listening to people, understanding the Constitution was written at a time when women were second-class citizens. We’re not,” the duchess continued.
“Certain things need to change. I think it’s equally about honoring the people who’ve been doing the work long before us, like [feminist icon] Gloria [Steinem]. I’m grateful that I’m holding a baton right there next to her and that we will continue to be doing this work together,” she said.
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