*** [TRIGGER WARNING] This email discusses sensitive content including pregnancy loss and miscarriage. ***
 

Dear John,

I had a miscarriage the week before Mother’s Day. I snuggled our three babies while bleeding out the fetus who would have grown into our fourth.

I couldn’t talk about it before, but I’ve learned that most of my friends have had one —if not many— pregnancy losses, but no one talks about it. That’s a whole hell of a lot of trauma we’re carrying alone, so I wrote about it…and the full article is linked here.

When I found out I was pregnant, I started picturing another wild child at the dinner table, adding to the chaos. I started to imagine a whole other person. I hoped for a second girl, a sister for my Mila who is often driven nuts by her two little brothers. I had visions of baking a pink cake and surprising Mila on her 9th birthday with the news.

Instead, at our 9-week appointment, we were told there was no heartbeat and the fetus had not grown in two weeks. Having heard three beautiful heartbeats before, it never occurred to me we would not hear one this time.

I took mifepristone on Monday, and misoprostol on Tuesday. I knew the stats on miscarriages, but I still never imagined I would be experiencing my own.

As I sat on the exam table, tears streaming down my face, they handed me the pill. The pill that is banned in 14 states. And I thought how helpless I would be if I lived in a red state where the government, and not my doctor, decided my medical treatment, where I would not only be dealing with my heart shattering, but also panicking about how politicians’ personal beliefs would dictate my next steps.

Political decisions affect every aspect of our lives, and too many of our legislators are charged with solving challenges they have never personally faced, especially surrounding reproductive healthcare, pregnancy, and loss. Lived experience matters.

Moms know the challenges that women, kids and working families face at a visceral level—but are often unheard because we are systemically kept out of the conversation, out of office, and out of power.

But we need to talk about the realities of motherhood in America. Moms are incredible, and our stories need to be heard everywhere, especially in the halls of power. Our nation’s policies have failed women and children for generations. To pass meaningful reform, we need to get moms in all the places where decisions are being made.

Running for and serving in office as a mom is an all too lonely experience— and there are simply not enough of us at the table. It is Vote Mama’s mission to change that.

Thank you for standing with moms and thank you for standing with Vote Mama. Let’s lift each other up as we fight to make room for more moms at the table.

Sincerely,

-Liuba
(Vote Mama Founder & CEO)