MPs demand abortion bereavement leave

Parents who experience miscarriage – Pregnancy loss during the first 23 weeks -Should be legally entitled to paid bereavement leave, according to a report by MPs.

Currently only those who lose their baby after 24 weeks are entitled to two weeks of paid leave. But a group of MPs is calling for it to be extended to all pregnancy losses in an upcoming employment rights bill.

A Department for Business spokesperson said losing a child was “incredibly difficult and we know many employers will show compassion and understanding in these circumstances.”

But Anna Malnutt said she went back to work three days after the miscarriage: “I didn’t really know how much time it was OK to take off, and I felt like I needed to go back.”

Anna experienced three pregnancy losses in 2018.

Despite her boss being very supportive, she decided to go back to work three days after her first miscarriage and it was recorded as sick leave.

After two more pregnancy losses, Anna said she “became a shadow of herself” and struggled with stress and anxiety at work – which ultimately led to her quitting her job.

“I’m sure that if I had taken the time to recover properly and handled the return to work better, I would have kept that job,” she said.

Anna and her husband now have two children, and she works as a volunteer for the Abortion Association. She believes the right to paid bereavement leave would have been “life-changing”.

While the couple was going through their pregnancy loss, her husband would attend meetings and work trips.

He said, “They were his children too. And he never got the time or space to grieve for it.”

Ana says it also meant he couldn’t support her the way he wanted to.

“If there was a policy, it would be a lot easier for them to say, ‘I’m going to take a couple of weeks off.'”

According to figures reported by the cross-party Women and Equalities Committee, it is estimated that more than one in five pregnancies end before 24 weeks and around 20% of women will experience child loss in their lifetime.

It is being proposed that bereavement leave should be extended to include those who have experienced an ectopic pregnancy – when a baby grows outside the womb, molar pregnancy – when an egg is not fertilized correctly , IVF embryo transfer loss and termination for medical reasons.

The committee acknowledged that many employers, including NHS trusts and Co-ops, already had policies in place for employees who had experienced child loss.

However, she said this is not universal.

The chair of the committee, Labor MP Sarah Owen, shared her own experience of child loss.

“I was not prepared for the shock of having a miscarriage at work during my first pregnancy,” she said.

“Like many women, I was legally required to take sick leave. But I was sad, not sick, but with a deep sense of loss.”

The report described sick leave as an “inappropriate and inadequate” way to support staff after childbirth, and noted that low rates of statutory sick pay meant some people could not afford to take that time off. Which they need.

Kath Abraham, chief executive of pregnancy and baby charity Tommy’s, said she hoped the government would move quickly to change the law.

“For many women, the psychological and physical impact of pregnancy loss is compounded by the pressure to immediately return to work and the lack of time to grieve,” she said.

“It is unacceptable that sickness absence often remains the only option, potentially leaving women and their partners economically vulnerable,” she said.

employment rights bill Currently working its way through Parliament. The government has described it as “the biggest upgrade of workplace rights for a generation”.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said: “Our Employment Rights Bill will establish a new entitlement to bereavement leave, make it right to take a day off for paternity and parents, and protect the rights of pregnant women and new mothers returning to work. “will strengthen security.”