Meghan Markle wants to destigmatise the conversation around miscarriages. Photo / Getty Images
Meghan Markle is on a mission.
The Duchess of Sussex had a very candid conversation about the future of women's reproductive rights in a recent interview with Vogue.
Speaking with American feminist Gloria Steinem and journalist Jessica Yellin, the former Suits actress reflected on the "deeply personal" experience of losing a child and why it's so important to talk about it.
"I know what miscarrying feels like, which I've talked about publicly," she said.
The duchess, who has two children, Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1, with Prince Harry, revealed in November 2020 with an article in the New York Times that she had suffered a miscarriage.
The article, which was titled "The losses we share", detailed the "unbearable grief" she felt when she lost her unborn child and acknowledged it is "experienced by many but talked about by few".
Now, the duchess is opening up once again in an effort to destigmatise women's reproductive issues.
"The more that we normalise conversation about the things that affect our lives and bodies, the more people are going to understand how necessary it is to have protections in place," she told Steinem.
"I know what it feels like to have a connection to what is growing inside of your body," she said. "What happens with our bodies is so deeply personal, which can also lead to silence and stigma, even though so many of us deal with personal health crises."
The interview comes amid America's Supreme Court's recent overturning of Roe v Wade.
It's a ruling the duchess is committed to standing up against.
"We're fighting to get a constitutional amendment put through [the Equal Rights Amendment] that makes it clear that women can be treated equally, and how it is completely nonsensical that that's even something we're still fighting for.
"This is about women's physical safety. It's also about economic justice, individual autonomy, and who we are as a society. Nobody should be forced to make a decision they do not want to make, or is unsafe, or puts their own life in jeopardy."
The duchess also said she is encouraging men including her husband to also stand up against the ruling.
"Men need to be vocal in this moment and beyond because these are decisions that affect relationships, families, and communities at large," the duchess stated. "They may target women, but the consequences impact all of us. My husband and I talked about that a lot over the past few days. He's a feminist too."
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