[[CtrlAltDel http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cadcarriage.jpg]]
[[caption-width:181:Hey, look on the bright side -- just think how unfunny ''our offspring'' would've been!]]

In television, pregnancies are likelier to end in a recognized miscarriage than they do in real life. What's a female character to do when she discovers she is pregnant? It would not be too controversial for television writers to suggest an abortion, but it would be if she were actually to have one, since GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion. In the end, she'll make her mind up to have the baby, if it's not what she decided ought to happen in the first place.

But it won't happen, because [[StatusQuoIsGod the plot of an ongoing series would change too much]] if her character had to be rewritten to include raising an infant. So the writers employ the ResetButton by having her miscarry, often by falling down a flight of stairs. This trope is limited to serial works, where reverting to a status quo is more important than advancing a plot. Therefore, miscarriages are less common in non-serial works, and even when they do happen it's not a ResetButton. A common variation is for a character (usually a main character's girlfriend) to ''say'' that they've miscarried, only for TheReveal to come later that the baby was born, perfectly fine. Whether or not this gets picked up again depends on how tied the writers are to the status quo.

Keep in mind that this may be TruthInTelevision; somewhere between 40% and 75% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, and by all accounts, sometimes the woman also wanted an abortion--but in most cases, the woman didn't even know she was pregnant; the fertilized egg simply fails to implant (or disintegrates upon implantation) and she either has a perfectly normal period or one that is slightly late and slightly heavier than normal. More severe critics cite the trope as a cheap source of drama for female characters, whose most important dilemmas always end up as highlighting their femininity.

However, if a woman wants to have a child, this trope probably doesn't exist to them. If they do have a miscarriage, it's usually a particularly brutal {{Double Subversion}} of the {{Law of Inverse Fertility}}.

-----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* Used for the same purpose: Sekai in the ''SchoolDays'' anime is Conveniently Not Pregnant After All in a last-episode {{retcon}} to establish Kotonoha's VillainyDiscretionShot. {{Yandere}} is one thing; baby-killing appears to be another, even if it's your love rival who says she's pregnant.
**Considering Kotonoha isn't in her right mind when she umm...checks, it's hard to tell whether Sekai was pregnant; perhaps it's better this way.
*** Also, even if Sekai was pregnant, the early stage of her pregnancy at the moment of her murder would make it impossible for anyone who wasn't a trained medical specialist (forensic or not) to see a "baby".
* [[UminekoNoNakuKoroNi Kyrie]] reveals that she had one around the same time Battler was born, which is part of the reason she resents his mother. Had her son lived, Rudolf might have married her instead of Asumu. [[spoiler:Of course, with the revelation that Asumu isn't Battler's biological mother, fans have theorized that her son might be closer than she thinks.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* The ''Comicbook/{{Batman}}'' comic ''Batman: Son of the Demon'' uses the variation. Batman joins up with his WellIntentionedExtremist enemy Ra's al Ghul, marries his daughter, Talia, and gets her pregnant. Talia decides that to defend her and the baby would hold Batman back from his mission, and fakes the miscarriage; the last we see is their son, in an orphanage, holding the necklace Bruce gave to Talia. This story was [[RetCon retroactively declared]] an {{Elseworld}} and then [[RetCon retconned]] right back to being canon years later, when Talia presented Bruce with his son [[MeaningfulName Damian]], now 10 years old.
* In a recent arc of ''CaptainAmerica'', the title character's sometimes-girlfriend Agent Sharon Carter of SHIELD discovered that she was pregnant. She was then taken captive by [[BigBad Red Skull]] and, after a fight, was found stabbed in the abdomen. The next issue revealed that she had done it to herself to keep her baby away from the Skull. No one blames her. (It's hinted that [[CompleteMonster Red Skull]] was going to use her baby as his new body.)
* Nocturne from ''Exiles'' who not only lost her child between issues but did any grieving there as well. One issue the father is put into a coma while punching out Galacticus and has to be left behind when the Exiles move on. The next issue someone asks her about why she's not showing yet and she informs them that she 'lost it 5 worlds ago and She's glad because what sort of crappy situation is this to bring a child into?'. The baby isn't mentioned again until the father comes out of his coma and the second the Nocturne says to him is 'I lost the baby' (the first is "You're Alive!")
* One of the oddest occurred in ''{{Robotech}}: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles''. Mainly used to bridge plot points between the end of the TV series and the upcoming movie, several characters had rather sudden changes worked upon them, were killed off, etc. Perhaps the most {{Anvilicious}} was Admiral Lisa Hunter from the original ''{{Macross}}'' segment of ''Robotech''. Due to a space battle in which she is commanding one of the ships involved (while pregnant!), she loses her baby and later steps down from military command. This is rather confusing because Admiral Rick Hunter, her husband, only shows up in one brief shot, and Lisa herself not at all. Even more confusing, there had been no canonical evidence that she was pregnant before that sequence.
** That said, the ''PTTSC'' miniseries did tend to incorporate elements of the now dubiously canon Robotech novels (as a nod to older fans), which had Rick and Lisa have a son later on. Max and Miria's psychic MessianicArchetype daughter Aurora was {{retcon}}ned into their hotshot ace pilot daughter Maia, so the details are not always important...
* Mary-Jane in the ''Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'' comics, as part of [[MarvelUniverse Marvel]]'s constant [[ExecutiveMeddling effort to keep Spidey young]]. It was revealed that the baby had actually been born healthy and spirited away, but we never saw any more of this plot, except in the ''[=MC2=]'' AlternateContinuity, where said baby eventually became ''Comicbook/SpiderGirl''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Fools Rush In'', Salma Hayek's character tells her lover that she's miscarried their child [[spoiler: who is later born on the Hoover Dam]].
* Subverted in ''TheGodfather'', Kay, the wife of Michael Corleone, apparently suffers this trope, [[spoiler: only to be revealed later that she aborted the child, out of hate towards her criminal husband. However, some argue that her "confession" is a lie meant to hurt Michael.]]
* ''Citizen Ruth'' is about a drug addict who gets pregnant and is fought over by Pro-Life and Pro-Choice groups who both want to use her as a pawn to farther their respective causes. Thanks to this trope, neither wins.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Used in the ''SwordOfTruth'' series. Despite Shota's warnings that a child born of Richard and Kahlan would bring about a cataclysmic disaster, they go ahead and get pregnant. (They had an artifact to prevent conception which [[ButWeUsedACondom failed to work as advertised]]). Soon afterward, Kahlan is struggling over drinking a miscarriage potion and finally decides against it, pouring it away. However, she is then beaten by a gang of thugs to an inch of her life, losing the baby anyway.
* This is OlderThanSteam, having been used in ''FannyHill'' in 1748.
** Fanny is strongly suspected to be an UnreliableNarrator. She's just been dumped by her lover (whose father has sent him on a world tour to detach him from her), she's pregnant, and she owes an astronomical sum to her landlady. Her only possible source of income is prostitution, but that would have been impossible in 1748 while pregnant. Moreover, her landlady is a "wise woman" - that is, an abortionist.
* Pam has one in one of Phyllis Reynold's Naylor's ''Alice'' books.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* Martha Kent in ''{{Smallville}}''.
**Later, Lana. Of course, [[spoiler:[[XanatosGambit she was never pregnant to begin with]]]].
* Gabrielle in season 2 of ''DesperateHousewives''. Particularly annoying as there had been a great deal of tension built up over whether Carlos or John was the father.
* Teresa in ''TheOC'' uses the variation; she doesn't miscarry, but claims she did so that Ryan will go back to the O.C.
* Subverted in ''{{Scrubs}}''. JD goes from Sacramento to Tacoma to see Kim's ultrasound, only to leave when she tells him she's miscarried; the episode closes on her gynecologist telling her she has a healthy baby boy. This ends up becoming very important later on in the season's main plot.
* Carrie in ''TheKingOfQueens'' was pregnant for exactly one episode.
*''GreysAnatomy'''s Cristina Yang unequivocally wanted an abortion in the first season, but of course, never got to go through with it due to falling ill from her ectopic pregnancy (which, [[RuleOfDrama also-of-course]], was when the father found out about it).
* Happens to Anthony [=LaPaglia's=] character's girlfriend after she's taken hostage in ''WithoutATrace'' - although there were signs the pregnancy was already in trouble, as was the relationship since she leaves soon after.
* Maddie, in ''{{Moonlighting}}''. Cybill Shepherd was pregnant with twins in real life, and the pregnancy was written into the show -- but the babies weren't. In the "Womb With a View" episode, narrated largely by Maddie's unborn baby (as played by Bruce Willis), Maddie miscarries during the baby shower.
* In the recent short-lived ''TheBionicWoman'' remake, the same car accident that leads to Jamie becoming bionic also causes her to miscarry.
* Julia got pregnant on ''{{Party of Five}}'' and was going to have an abortion, but miscarried before she got to the clinic.
** Due to ExecutiveMeddling; they didn't want the character to do anything too controversial. OrSoIHeard.
* On ''Webster'', Catherine discovered she was pregnant and lost the baby... in the same episode. Doubly-jarring, given how lighthearted Webster ''usually'' was.
*An episode of ''AllInTheFamily'' before Gloria and Mike successfully had a baby featured Gloria finding out she was pregnant and then losing the baby almost immediately afterward. Interestingly, in the spinoff ''{{Maude}}'', the title character did have an abortion. The episode ended with her simply making the decision with no abortion scene, but the episode was still incredibly controversial.
* Kitty in ''BrothersAndSisters'', although she never considered an abortion, miscarried her pregnancy very early, resulting in her then-fiancé not having to deal with being a Republican presidential candidate expecting out of wedlock.
* In ''RescueMe'', Tommy gets his dead cousin's wife Sheila pregnant. Right around the time Tommy realizes he has to quit drinking to win his real family back, Sheila handily has a miscarriage; now that her baby is out of the way, Tommy can go live a happy life with his real wife and kids. Wait, what?
* In ''UpstairsDownstairs'', Sarah's baby is stillborn, and Hazel has an early miscarriage. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the setting: infant mortality was much higher in 1909 and 1914. Neither case was coverup for a pregnant actress.
* Katey Sagal's RealLife pregnancy was written into a season of ''MarriedWithChildren'', but the baby was stillborn in a third-term miscarriage. To avoid the trauma of an infant on-set so soon after her loss, Peg's pregnancy was made AllJustADream.
* Sarah Hendrickson in ''BigLove''.
* [[spoiler: Caprica-Six and Saul Tigh]] in ''BattlestarGalactica'' [[spoiler:with their son (Wil)Liam, possibly due to Tigh switching affections from Six back to his real wife Ellen. Apparently, Cylons need love to breed).]]
*''{{NYPD BLUE}}'': Diane miscarries her child with Bobby. (He later meets him in the afterlife.) Another time, Danny has a crisis when he gets his girlfriend pregnant, but she has a miscarriage at the end of the episode. Conveniently.
* Kirsty did this on ''HomeAndAway'': first she lied she was pregnant, then to weasel out of it she lied she miscarried, and then she found she was having a baby for real, and then she miscarried for real.
* Happens constantly in soap operas. Makes you think there's something in the water...or they're all set in Love Canal...or something.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

* Curtis's mother in the newspaper comic ''Curtis''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Professional Wrestling ]]

* Though there have been several pregnancy storylines, almost no children are born in ProfessionalWrestling, thanks largely to Convenient Miscarriages (or giving birth to [[Horrible/ProfessionalWrestling rubber hands!]]). Then again, when the father-to-be insists on bringing the pregnant woman down to ringside, about five feet away from where he and another burly man will be throwing each other around like sacks of potatoes, perhaps this is to be expected.
**There HAS been at least one instance of a pregnancy being carried to term -- Stephanie [=McMahon=] got pregnant and carried the baby successfully to full term and delivered a healthy baby girl. This is because she was ''[[RealLifeWritesThePlot pregnant in real life]]''. As the father of the baby was her husband, WWE wrestler Triple H, ([[WrestlingFamily who is NOT her husband for kayfabe purposes]]), the impact of the pregnancy on any storylines was limited to some FourthWall breaking [[LampshadeHanging lampshadings]] by HHH's tag team, DX. Stephanie got pregnant again a few years later; that time, they just shot her using typical pregnancy-reducing camera tricks (slimming outfits, not a lot of camera time with her torso showing, etc.) before keeping her offscreen.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

*Lilah in ''[[CtrlAltDel Ctrl+Alt+Del]]'', whose miscarriage was supposedly caused by her immune system detecting the unborn child as a foreign object, which '''does''' happen in real life. This would have been particularly dramatic [[CerebusSyndrome had the comic not been mostly light-hearted and comedic up until then]], and [[MoodWhiplash had the author not broken up the story with regular game jokes]].
** Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of {{Zero Punctuation}}, in his special feature on webcomics, singled this episode out partially as an example of the comic's poor quality (without identifying it). The results were not pretty.
--> '''Yahtzee:''' "Obviously you would have to have several blood clots in your brain to think that this is a good idea, it's going to be an [[MoodWhiplash awkward tonal shift]] at best and [[DeadBabyComedy complete disrespect of the subject matter]] at worst."
** It gets [[{{unfunny}} unfunnier]] when you hear his explanation, recreated on [[http://www.explosm.net/comics/1310/ here]]. Yeah I suppose "[miscarriages] are '''often''' much harder on the woman then the man" (emphasis mine) ...And then in the next arc ''[[UnfortunateImplications Lilah apologizes to Ethan for acting so upset all the darn time.]]''
* Monette has one in ''SomethingPositive'', and it was handled particularly clumsily. The storyline is barely flashed to for a few strips, focuses entirely on the relationship problem arising from it and, rather than using the term "miscarriage," refers to the event with the comic's usual brand of sensitivity ("pushing [[AmericanCustomaryMeasurements eight to nine pounds]] of baby matter out of her nether regions"). The miscarriage storyline was so abrupt, brief (parts disappeared into the archives before many saw them on the front page due to the comic's odd schedule), and unreferenced later that some readers were left thinking that Monette's baby had been [[BrotherChuck Brother Chucked]].
** It was a stillbirth, not a miscarriage, which is perhaps a reflection of how poorly it was handled. There's a specific reference to her losing the baby, and later she asks another character to visit his grave for her when she moves to California.
* This seems to have happened in ''[[http://anderslovesmaria.reneengstrom.com/2008/09/10/197-lets-take-a-look/ Anders Loves Maria]]''.

----
<<|PregnancyTropes|>>
<<|RealLifeWritesThePlot|>>