A special garden area in the city should be created for those who have suffered a miscarriage or stillbirth.
This is the view of Fine Gael Galway City West councillor, Clodagh Higgins, who has set down a motion calling on the Galway City Council to designate a garden area for such a purpose.
Cllr Higgins envisages the garden as a place of remembrance and a place “to help heal the pain of pregnancy loss. Her proposal has already drawn support from Féileacáin – The Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Association of Ireland and The Miscarriage Association of Ireland.
A raw topic
“Miscarriage is such a raw topic, and it has touched all homes in some capacity or another as more than one in five pregnancies ends in miscarriage,” said Cllr Higgins. “It is really difficult when you have a miscarriage, as in some instances when your baby leaves your body you may not be able to identify when this happens. There is such coldness which surrounds miscarriage and the sadness associated with it creates such a void for mothers, fathers, and families and such a loss can be emotionally paralysing”.
While a specific area for the garden, and a design for it, has yet to be chosen, Cllr Higgins envisages it as a place that would “provide people with a place where they are free to feel what they need to feel and grieve the way they want to grieve”.
