On October 15, in coincidence with the International Perinatal Loss Awareness Day, AFIN Barcelona and the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau organized the event “Early Pregnancy Losses: Breaking Taboos, Building Bridges, Adding Voices” in the auditorium of the Hospital.
This event is part of the dissemination activities of the project “Early Reproductive Losses: from invisible physical and emotional discomfort to possible personal, family, and social mourning,” sponsored by the La Caixa Foundation and supported by institutions such as FEDUP (Spanish Federation of Gestational, Perinatal and Neonatal Grief), Cor a Cor, Marcé Spanish Society (MARES), Petits amb Llum, Umamanita (Support, Awareness and Humanization of Perinatal Death and Grief Care), and the National Network of Infertile Women Association.
Throughout the day, which was attended by professionals from various specialties and the general public, several activities took place. Along with the goal of raising awareness about a common yet silenced issue, the event provided an opportunity to share knowledge and experiences, exchange perspectives, engage in dialogue, be moved, and most importantly, listen and learn.
The day opened with a roundtable presentation of the results of the project “Early Reproductive Losses” by the project’s lead researchers: Diana Marre (Director of AFIN and Professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), María José Rodríguez (Associate Professor at the University of Alicante), and Elisa Llurba (Director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Hospital Universitario de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona).
The morning session closed with the premiere of the story “Algo en mí” (Something in Me) from the series “Pérdidas” (Losses) of the project Transforming Voices, directed and produced by Miguel Gaggiotti. This story, which will soon be available publicly, is part of a series of seven short films that narrate, in the first person, the experience of a first-trimester pregnancy loss.
After the lunch break, the roundtable “Itineraries, Labors, and Silences around Pregnancy Losses” took place, featuring Sofía Gaggiotti (Fundación Puigvert), Cristina Trilla (Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau), Lynne McIntyre (AFIN, UAB), and Giulia Colavolpe-Severi (AFIN, UAB). This was followed by the roundtable “(Re)thinking the Support for Early Pregnancy Losses,” featuring Alexandra Desy (AFIN, UAB), Concepción Torres (University of Alicante), Montserrat Robles (FEDUP – Spanish Federation of Gestational, Perinatal and Neonatal Grief), and María Llavoré (Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau).
The roundtables were moderated by Carolina Remorini (AFIN, UAB).
Participants were also able to explore an exhibition of objects and images related to early loss experiences titled “I Have Nothing Else.” Collective Memory and Materiality, organized by AFIN with contributions from participants in our project.
The event concluded with a participatory activity through an interactive app, where attendees were asked to summarize the learning from the day using a single word. The most prominent words were: listening, inspiration, knowledge, empathy, voices, sharing, and love.
For more information about the project and the event, you can read the press release by the UAB.