Parents who suffer a miscarriage should be entitled to bereavement leave, says MP

All parents who suffer the “trauma” of a miscarriage should be entitled to two weeks’ paid bereavement leave, an MP has said, in a move backed by Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary.

Sarah Owen, Labour MP for Luton North, called for all parents who experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth during early pregnancy to be eligible for the same rights as those who lose a baby after 24 weeks.

Under the current law, if a woman miscarries before 24 weeks, the decision to grant paid parental bereavement leave is at the discretion of their employer.

On Tuesday, she presented a Ten Minute Rule Bill calling for the law “to catch up with society”, and offer paid leave to all women and their partners who suffered from a miscarriage in the first six months of pregnancy.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Ms Owen, who is the vice-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Baby Loss, said: “Being forced to take sick leave wrongly reinforces a woman’s feeling that her body has failed her or that it is somehow her fault.

“For thousands of women, sadly, miscarriage is part of pregnancy just as death is part of life. The law urgently needs to catch up with society.”

She added: “Miscarriage can be physically painful but it isn’t an illness and it is time the law stopped treating it like one.”

MP tells of miscarrying twice

In a moving speech drawing on her own experience of miscarrying twice, she said that after her own experience she “really didn’t hold much hope that life would ever get brighter”.

She said: “Grief hits everyone differently but one thing that is universal is that it takes time. It is why people are entitled to bereavement leave when losing a loved one. I wasn’t prepared for the grief of miscarrying.”

Ms Owen said she was “shocked” that she had to take sick pay as she wasn’t entitled to bereavement leave under current legislation.

She added: “What I was feeling wasn’t a sickness - it was physically painful, yes - but my overriding feeling was grief. A deep sense of loss of hopes, dreams and warning of a lost future with babies I never got to hold,” she said.

Strong backing for the Bill

The Bereavement Leave and Pay Bill has the backing of several cross-party MPs, including Mr Hunt, Jim Shannon of the DUP, and Alex Davies-Jones, Labour MP for Pontypridd.

It remains to be seen if the Bill will receive government time and support.

Ms Owen said she was “proud” that the Bill had cross-party support, adding that the issue was “above party politics”.

She added: “Extending bereavement leave for everyone who miscarries is the fair and compassionate thing to do.”