Gluesenkamp Perez pushes miscarriage pain study after personal loss

WASHINGTON, D.C. - After recently experiencing a miscarriage, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is pushing Congress to address pain management during pregnancy loss, what she describes as a long-standing gap in women's healthcare.

Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washougal, secured language in a House bill directing the National Institutes of Health to study pain management strategies for miscarriage after sharing during a committee hearing this week that she experienced excruciating pain that she was ill-equipped for.

Reproductive rights advocates applauded the congress member for sharing her personal story - acknowledging that women's pain has been long dismissed - while questioning whether an NIH study would meaningfully improve miscarriage care nationwide.

A few weeks ago my husband and I lost a pregnancy after 11 weeks of hope of bringing a new member into the family," Gluesenkamp Perez told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. Her doctor advised that medication was required to properly expel the fetus. "When I took the medication this past Sunday, the pain was worse than the pain I experienced during the labor and delivery of my son four years ago."

"Women's suffering is profoundly undertreated," she said. "While we have advanced in so many other ways, the status quo of women's pain treatment, especially when it concerns reproductive health, is medieval. Women should not have to endure excruciating pain to handle a miscarriage."

Gluesenkamp Perez thanked fellow committee members who unanimously adopted the one-sentence amendment into a broader spending bill Tuesday night.

Some providers and reproductive rights advocates remain hesitant. The broader House spending bill, which encompasses the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education, and other related agencies, would impose sweeping cuts on various programs that support family planning and reproductive health. Democrats have lambasted the bill as one that would risk health coverage for millions of Americans. (Gluesenkamp Perez ultimately voted against the overall package, saying she did not agree with the underlying bill.)

"I appreciate that this is an attempt to claw back a tiny bit of that, but that's all it is: a tiny bit," Sarah Prager, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington, said of Gluesenkamp Perez's effort. "It is a drop in the ocean. It is not enough to negate the overwhelming negative impact this bill would have on reproductive care."

Others take issue with directing the administration of President Donald Trump to study the topic, as the administration has taken sharp aim at reproductive rights since his first term and has since sought to undo Biden-era initiatives intended to protect and expand abortion access in the wake of Roe v. Wade's overturning.

The medications to manage a miscarriage, which help the uterus expel remaining pregnancy tissue, are mifepristone and misoprostol. The same medications are used to facilitate a medical abortion. Pain management options during the process can range from over-the-counter remedies to prescription medication, providers said.

Gluesenkamp Perez during her testimony said that she was offered only ibuprofen. "Women are not offered pain medication beyond ibuprofen as the standard for miscarriage," she said. "This is the functional equivalent of offering someone a stick to chew on."

Improving provider education may be more effective than a new NIH study, said Jennifer Allen, CEO of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, which covers Washington state, Alaska, Hawaiʻi, Idaho, Indiana and Kentucky. That could include ensuring that providers understand the full range of pain management options and are trained to discuss them with patients.

"We respect Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez's desire to make sure the people experiencing a miscarriage don't need to go through unnecessary pain, and we also are not entirely sure that a study is what's needed," Allen said. "We don't trust that this administration, which is openly hostile to abortion care, will conduct an unbiased study of people's pain."

"This is a very well-intentioned and heartfelt effort," Allen added. "And I do think that the funds that it will take to conduct a study could probably be better used to actually provide healthcare.

The appropriations committee passed the broader bill, sending it to the House floor.

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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 5:02 PM.