Meghan McCain reflects on miscarriage: 'It's just horrific'

Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Meghan McCain says her miscarriage was a "horrific" experience.

The 35-year-old television personality discussed her miscarriage during Wednesday's episode of Good Morning America in support of National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.

McCain, a co-host on The View, spoke out in an effort to combat the shame and stigma women often feel after losing a child.

"Nobody likes the word miscarriage. I think there's a lot of shame attached to it, and a lot of sadness. And there's a lot of societal stigma about it," she said. "But I'd rather talk about it than not talk about it."

McCain had a miscarriage over the summer, about a year after her dad John McCain's death. She explained how having a miscarriage felt like the "inverse" of losing her father.

"My dad was like the ending of a beautiful, long-lived life and I grieve that. And the way I grieved having a miscarriage and grieved my daughter was what could have been," the star said.

McCain hopes to help change the way society talks about grief, death and loss, including about miscarriages.

"It's hard. It's just really, really, really hard. And I empathize with all women who have gone through it. And who may go through it," she said. "It's just horrific. And it doesn't really get easier, either."

McCain went public about her miscarriage in an op-ed for The New York Times in July, in which she said she initially blamed herself for her unborn child's death. She also voiced her enduring love for the child she lost.

"I had a miscarriage. I loved my baby, and I always will. To the end of my days I will remember this child -- and whatever children come will not obscure that. I have love for my child," the star wrote.

McCain married her husband, Ben Domenech, in November 2017.