MP calls for parents to be allowed bereavement leave after early pregnancy miscarriage in new bill

A Labour MP who miscarried at work has shared her painful experience in hopes bereavement leave will be extended to parents who suffer pregnancy loss.

Sarah Owen is urging the government to allow the leave to be used for people who miscarry or suffer stillbirths in early pregnancy who are instead forced to use up sick leave.

She told the Commons: “I can’t believe in 2021 people are forced to take sick leave to process their grief.”

The MP for Luton North recalled her own experience of miscarrying at work during her first pregnancy.

She told the Commons: “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.”

She added: “The law urgently needs to catch up with society to allow everyone who is that one in four the time to grieve and heal.

“Miscarriage can be physically painful, but it isn’t an illness and it’s time the law stopped treating it like one.”

Her Bill would extend entitlement to parental bereavement leave and pay to parents of babies miscarried or stillborn during early pregnancy.

Ms Owen said: “The first time it took me two days to completely miscarry, the second time I carried the little ones around with me for nearly a week until I went under general anaesthetic to have them removed.”

The MP said: “I can’t imagine going through all of that without a supportive employer, yet thousands of women in this country do and that is why the law must change… the call to extend bereavement leave to people who miscarry in early pregnancy has cross-party support.”

Ms Owen asked to meet ministers, adding: “My proposal today would be an ideal strengthening of people’s rights at work in any future Employment Bill. We shouldn’t have to wait any longer to make this change.

“No woman should feel compelled to stay at home or stay in work. They should have the space and choice about how to grieve.”

She went on: “Grief hits everyone differently, but one thing that is universal is that it takes time. It’s why people are entitled to bereavement leave when losing a loved one.

"I wasn’t prepared for the grief of miscarrying, I was even more shocked that I wasn’t entitled to bereavement leave, but legally had to take sick pay instead.”

Ms Owen’s Bereavement Leave and Pay (Stillborn and Miscarried Babies) Bill was listed for a second reading on February 25 next year, but is unlikely to become law due to a lack of parliamentary time.