Meghan Markle congratulated by British charities for speaking candidly about her miscarriage: ‘A great service’

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Meghan Markle is praised for speaking openly about her miscarriage this summer.

Meghan, 39, wrote in the New York Times Wednesday on the “almost unbearable grief” she and Prince Harry suffered following a miscarriage in July. The child is said to have been a brother or sister to 18-month-old son Archie.

“I knew, by hugging my firstborn, that I was losing my second,” she wrote in the Times.

Now the Duchess of Sussex is being applauded for coming forward. Ruth Bender Atik, National Director of UK’s Miscarriage Association, told PEOPLE: “If someone in the public eye has miscarried, it tends to be a story, but it has added power when it comes to it. her, this couple.

RELATED: Prince Harry’s Uncle Charles Spencer Speaks Out on Meghan Markle Miscarriage News

The main message, she said, was that Meghan “was trying to reduce the taboo and openly share her feelings and encourage people to offer their support because people often feel very unsupported and lonely when they have a miscarriage.” .

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“My overwhelming feeling reading this was how very generous she was to share her story publicly. It gives permission for others to do the same. It can have the effect of validating what someone is feeling – whether someone else feels a sense of loss or grief for what might have been, ”adds Bender Atik. “She spoke about her feelings of pain both physical and emotional – for Harry too. It is important to understand that partners are affected. “

Bender Atik continues to say that while up to one in four pregnancies end prematurely – and as Meghan also noted in her essay – many don’t think they can speak openly about it.

“She did a great service by just getting the topic talked about. It’s an uncomfortable subject, it’s about women’s bodies and the bleeding and also the pain of grief and loss, ”she explains. “The great British way of dealing with this stuff is to hope that people will rebel and that people tend to say things like ‘at least it was early, or at least you already have a child, or can try again. “What you really want people to say is, ‘I’m sorry for your loss, how are you?” She said how grateful she was for someone to ask her how she was.

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Henk Kruger / AP / Shutterstock Meghan Markle, Prince Harry and Archie

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Diana Award general manager Tessy Ojo picked up the reference in Meghan’s Times article to TV interviewer Tom Bradby asking if she was ‘OK’ while touring South Africa with Harry in 2018. “It’s a reminder that when we ask this question, ask with intention and wait to listen to the response, “Ojo told PEOPLE, adding,” Just as we rejoice with people who carry a baby to term, people who miscarry need us to wrap them in their arms because they have suffered. a loss and they will always cry for the child they never had. “

And as an activist against online bullying, Tessy Ojo and her charity (the only one named after Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana) have been saddened by the continued hatred directed at the couple in recent years. . “We have gone too far in terms of polarizing our society as a society and our tributism. We just need to step back from that and stop completely and really double down on our core values ​​of empathy, compassion and kindness,” Ojo declares.

“There’s a lot of polarization around them right now, but the power they have and the position they hold means people are listening,” she continues. “But I’m thankful that they have a platform and have used it to shine a spotlight on something that isn’t often talked about. It’s something that’s sometimes covered in shame as well and the fact that she’s been talking about it and having this conversation means it’s okay. No woman should ever feel guilty or ashamed of a miscarriage. “

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