Tinuke Awe, founder of the Black maternal health advocacy group Five X More, highlights the urgent need to address the disproportionately high risk of miscarriage among Black women.
Research published in 2021 in The Lancet revealed that Black women are 43% more likely to experience miscarriage compared to their white counterparts—a stark disparity that has yet to provoke sufficient systemic change.
Baby Loss Awareness Week often serves as a poignant reminder of the silent grief and unanswered questions surrounding pregnancy loss. Awe shares her personal experience of vanishing twin syndrome during her pregnancy, illustrating the often-overlooked emotional impact behind the statistics. Despite having a healthy pregnancy afterward, she carried a persistent fear and anxiety fueled by the broader realities many Black women face.
The heightened risk of miscarriage among Black women exists within a broader context of racial disparities in maternal health. According to recent data from MBRRACE UK, Black women are also 2.3 times more likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth than white women.
Despite these alarming figures, progress in understanding and addressing these inequities remains slow. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) called for urgent research into miscarriage and the racial gap in 2022, but meaningful advances have been minimal.
Underlying this disparity are complex, interrelated factors. Structural racism, limited access to specialist care, delayed referrals, and a lack of trust between Black patients and healthcare professionals contribute to poorer outcomes. Additionally, untreated or missed health conditions, often rooted in systemic neglect, exacerbate risks. However, much of this remains theoretical, hampered by a lack of targeted research and insufficient data collection.
Awe emphasizes that these numbers represent real lives shadowed by fear and loss. Black women enter pregnancy carrying the burden of knowing their odds are worse, a consequence not of biology alone but of systemic failure. The health system’s historic dismissal of Black women’s pain undermines trust and perpetuates disparities, deepening inequities in care and outcomes.
Through Five X More, in partnership with Tommy’s, Awe helps operate a helpline supporting Black, Brown, and mixed-heritage women affected by pregnancy loss. While support services are vital for emotional well-being, they are not substitutes for urgent research and systemic reform. Without focused action, the racial disparities in miscarriage and maternal health will persist unchecked.
Addressing this issue demands raising difficult questions: Why have urgent research efforts been delayed, and why does the healthcare system continue to offer vague acknowledgments rather than solutions? The Black maternal health crisis reflected in miscarriage statistics requires more than awareness—it necessitates dedicated investment in research, policy changes, and improved clinical care to ensure equitable outcomes.
For every woman silently carrying the pain of pregnancy loss, it is essential that society commits to understanding and dismantling the barriers that leave Black women at greater risk. Only by turning statistics into meaningful change can we hope to prevent future loss and build a more just healthcare system.
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