{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,14]],"date-time":"2026-06-14T23:09:39Z","timestamp":1781478579489,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":76,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,15]],"date-time":"2023-04-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1681516800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/pages\/standard-publication-reuse-rights"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,16]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:p>Despite significant efforts to support those bereaved by intrauterine death, they remain susceptible to avoidable psychological harm such as disenfranchised grief, misplaced guilt, and emotional shock. This is in part because the words available to describe intrauterine death\u2014\u201cmiscarriage,\u201d \u201cspontaneous abortion,\u201d and \u201cpregnancy loss\u201d\u2014are referentially ambiguous. Despite appearing to refer to one event, they can refer to two distinct events: the baby\u2019s death and his preterm delivery. Disenfranchised grief increases when people understand \u201cmiscarriage\u201d as the physical process of preterm delivery alone, for this obscures the baby\u2019s death and excludes non-gestational parents, such as the father. Additionally, focusing on the delivery reinforces the mistaken idea that a gestational mother bears responsibility for her baby\u2019s death, increasing misplaced guilt. When these terms instead shift the focus to the baby\u2019s intrauterine death rather than the preterm delivery, they can obscure the physically difficult and often traumatic experience women have when they deliver their dead children, leaving women shocked by preterm delivery\u2019s physical reality. Given their outsized role in framing the bereaved\u2019s experiences, and their duty to avoid harming their patients, healthcare practitioners in particular should take special care to discuss intrauterine death and preterm delivery appropriately with patients and their families. Changing language to describe intrauterine death and preterm delivery clearly and precisely helps mitigate disenfranchised grief, misplaced guilt, and shock, while also helping to reframe the social response to intrauterine death, making it more obvious why certain steps, such as allowing bereavement leave following an intrauterine death, promote healing.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/jmp\/jhad013","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,16]],"date-time":"2023-04-16T06:34:31Z","timestamp":1681626871000},"page":"265-282","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["When Words Fail: \u201cMiscarriage,\u201d Referential Ambiguity, and Psychological Harm"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"48","author":[{"given":"Jessalyn A","family":"Bohn","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"St. Edward\u2019s University , Austin, Texas , USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,15]]},"reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"2023051603470294000_CIT0001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"201","DOI":"10.3109\/03009731003739851","article-title":"Applicability of general grief theory to Swedish women\u2019s experience after early miscarriage, with factor analysis of Bonanno\u2019s taxonomy, using the Perinatal Grief Scale","volume":"115","author":"Adolfsson","year":"2010","journal-title":"Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences"},{"issue":"5","key":"2023051603470294000_CIT0002","first-page":"e197","article-title":"Early pregnancy loss","volume":"132","author":"American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)","year":"2015","journal-title":"ACOG Practice Bulletin"},{"key":"2023051603470294000_CIT0003","year":"2015"},{"key":"2023051603470294000_CIT0004","author":"American Pregnancy Association","year":"2020"},{"key":"2023051603470294000_CIT0005","article-title":"Signs of miscarriage.","year":"."},{"key":"2023051603470294000_CIT0006","author":"Angela","year":"2019"},{"issue":"6","key":"2023051603470294000_CIT0007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1313","DOI":"10.1097\/AOG.0000000000000859","article-title":"A national survey on public perceptions of miscarriage","volume":"125","author":"Bardos","year":"2015","journal-title":"Obstetrics & Gynecology"},{"key":"2023051603470294000_CIT0008","article-title":"\u201cThe pain radiated from my stomach to my legs. 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