Myleene Klass: Miscarriage and Me - Sheffield MP Olivia Blake to star in powerful documentary

Ms Blake, Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam, is to feature in Myleene Klass: Miscarriage and Me, which is showing on the W channel on Thursday as part of Baby Loss Awareness Week.

Earlier this year the pair meet in Hathersage to discuss their experiences of miscarriage and the wider issues with miscarriage care, before meeting up again outside Parliament on the day of an adjournment debate on miscarriage support in June of this year.

Ms Blake started campaigning on this issue when last year she was contacted by a constituent who was forced to attend maternity appointments alone because of Covid rules. She raised these concerns with the Minister, before later in the summer having to find out about her own miscarriage alone in hospital, because her partner wasn’t allowed in.

She launched a successful campaign calling for a rule change, so that partners could attend maternity appointments during the pandemic.

Currently, women are only entitled to support or care after their third miscarriage. Campaigners say that even then, the quality and availability of support is hugely varying, with large numbers of women left without any mental or physical support at all.

Ms Blake said: “It has been such a huge pleasure to be part of Myleene’s documentary. What she is doing to break the silence is truly inspiring, and I know this documentary will shine a much needed light on the experiences of so many people and the urgent need for better support.

“It has been nearly a year since I first spoke publicly about my own experience of miscarriage, during a debate in Parliament. I hadn’t planned to, but after hearing so many brave colleagues talk about their own miscarriages, I decided to rip up my notes and speak about my experience instead.

“Since that day I have been contacted by literally hundreds of people across the country. Some who have never spoken about their miscarriage to anyone, others completely denied any support or told they simply hadn’t had enough miscarriages to receive help.

“It is a scandal that for so long people have been left to suffer like this, like miscarriage is an inevitable fact of life that women must deal with alone. But things are starting to change. More and more people are speaking up, in part thanks to the incredible efforts of campaign groups, and the Government has finally committed to reform care provision.

"But this is just the first step. I know from personal experience, and from many people who have contacted me, that to truly address this crisis we can and must go much further.”

Myleene Klass said: “I’m getting to a point in my life where I’m finding it very tricky to find a woman who hasn’t gone through miscarriage. Making this film, I’ve realised that so many women around me have had miscarriages. How can I know so much about their lives but not know something that’s shaped who they are and the way they are?

“Miscarriage still feels like a taboo. I’d like to help make these conversations a little easier. It can’t go on being the big dark secret that we have to carry around.”

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