Pregnancy Interrupted: The Science and Stories of How Pregnancies Really End

A compassionate, evidence-based look at pregnancy loss--how and why it happens, and why the assurances of the medical industry don't reflect the reality

One of the most prevalent myths about human pregnancy is that of all possible outcomes, a baby is the most likely. Pregnancy Interrupted challenges the misleadingly linear narrative that begins with two lines on a pregnancy test and ends with a newborn. Drawing on Kate Clancy's own deeply personal stories of pregnancy loss and moving interviews with others, it reveals how the frequency of loss and miscarriage is far more common than most realize. This provocative book makes an impassioned, fact-based case for truthfulness and care at a time when inaccurate images of fetuses abound, electronic impulses continue to pass for a heartbeat, and reproductive autonomy is criminalized.

Presenting the unvarnished science of pregnancy loss, Clancy validates the experiences of women and gender minorities, offers solace for the person on her third miscarriage, and gives guidance for lawmakers and advocates seeking change. While genetic errors make some losses inevitable, this is not the whole story. Clancy describes how other factors increase the risk--from the choices we sometimes make to environmental and social conditions that go overlooked or ignored. She exposes the links between miscarriage and stressors like physical and emotional violence and explores how we might prevent miscarriages and stillbirths while mitigating the trauma when they do occur.

Pregnancy Interrupted provides an eye-opening account of pregnancy and loss as an unpredictable yet universal experience.

Author: Kate Clancy
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 08/25/2026
Pages: 312
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.50lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.10w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9780691254739

About the Author
Kate Clancy is professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she holds appointments in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies and the Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology. She is the author of Period: The Real Story of Menstruation (Princeton) and has written for The Washington Post, Scientific American, National Geographic, American Scientist, and WIRED.