Aimee Walker
New Zealand has approved paid leave for those who have suffered from a miscarriage.
The new bill has been brought forward by Labour MP Ginny Andersen who argues that parents should be entitled to take time off to process their loss without being forced to use sick leave.
She says the time will allow parents to ‘recover physically and mentally’ from the tragic experience.
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Ms Andersen stated: “The grief that comes with miscarriage is not a sickness; it is a loss, and that loss takes time – time to recover physically and time to recover mentally.”
Lawmakers are hoping that this legislation, which passed Wednesday night, will help tackle the stigma surrounding losing a pregnancy.
It will also apply to parents that were expecting a baby through surrogacy and adoption.
Writer Kathryn van Beek has also been praised for her involvement in passing the bill, as she experienced a miscarriage herself.
She said that she hopes the new measure breaks the taboo around losing an unborn child, commenting: “A miscarriage is a strange, secret birth that is also a death.”
New Zealand already gave workers paid leave after a stillbirth, but this new legislation has extended it to miscarriages.
Although the move has been dubbed groundbreaking, the country is not the first to offer this kind of assistance. India also entitles its mothers to six weeks of leave.
Currently, the UK only offers parents bereavement leave if they experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks.
Featured Image Credit: Pexel
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