Over 4 million times a year in the United States, women go through the long journey of a pregnancy that results in a successful childbirth, but approximately 2 million pregnancies are lost each year in the U.S. as well. Pregnancies can be lost in several ways, including:

• Miscarriage. Approximately 600,000 miscarriages occur every year in the U.S.
  
• Termination. The majority of lost pregnancies occur when women opt to terminate, or abort, their pregnancy. About 1.2 million pregnancies are lost each year this way.
• Ectopic pregnancy. Around 64,000 ectopic pregnancies happen every year in this country. An ectopic pregnancy is a nonviable pregnancy growing outside the womb.
• Molar pregnancy. This form of pregnancy loss occurs about 6,000 times a year in the U.S. These are abnormal genetic pregnancies without an identifiable or viable fetus.
• Stillbirth. Approximately 26,000 women experience loss through stillbirth at a viable gestational age.

Even if a pregnancy is successful and a live birth occurs, complications are still possible. According to the American Pregnancy Association, nearly 875,000 women experience some form of complication during their pregnancy and nearly 460,000 babies are born to mothers with inadequate prenatal care each year.

Some of the complications associated with pregnancy and childbirth are pregnancy-related depression, pregnancy-related obesity and a multitude of infections. Due to the possibility of losing a pregnancy and the complications which can plague even a successful childbirth, pregnancy is the most dangerous normal physiologic state that a human can experience.