Auckland, New Zealand — New Zealand’s Parliament unanimously
approved legislation that would give couples who suffer a miscarriage or
stillbirth three days’ paid leave, putting the country in the vanguard of those
providing such benefits.
اضافة اعلان
Ginny Andersen, the Labour member of Parliament who drafted the
bill, said she had not been able to find comparable legislation anywhere in the
world. “We may well be the first country,” she said, adding, “But all the
countries that New Zealand is usually compared to legislate for the 20-week
mark.”
Employers in New Zealand, as in some other countries, had
already been required to provide paid leave in the event of a stillbirth, when
a fetus is lost after a gestation of 20 weeks or more. The new legislation will
expand that leave to anyone who loses a pregnancy at any point, removing any
ambiguity. The measure is expected to become law in the coming weeks.
“I felt that it would give women the confidence to be able to
request that leave if it was required, as opposed to just being stoic and
getting on with life, when they knew that they needed time, physically or psychologically,
to get over the grief,” Andersen said.
The new law does not apply to those who terminate pregnancies,
Andersen added. New Zealand decriminalized abortion last year, ending the
country’s status as one of the few wealthy nations to limit the grounds for
ending a pregnancy in the first half.
In Australia, people who miscarry are entitled to unpaid leave
if they lose a fetus after 12 weeks, while in Britain, would-be parents who
experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks are eligible for paid leave. The United
States does not require employers to provide leave for anyone who suffers a
miscarriage.
Up to 20 percent of all known pregnancies in the United States
end in miscarriage, according to the Mayo Clinic. In New Zealand, whose
population is 5 million, the Ministry of Health estimates that one to two pregnancies
in 10 will end in miscarriage.
The charity Sands New Zealand, which supports parents who have
lost a pregnancy, says 5,900 to 11,800 miscarriages or stillbirths occur each
year. More than percent of the miscarriages occur in the first 12 to 14 weeks of
pregnancy, according to data from the New Zealand College of Midwives.
A miscarriage or stillbirth remains a fraught and painful topic,
one that is difficult to talk about publicly or seek support for, health
advocates say.
“If you ring the hospital saying, ‘I think I’m miscarrying my
baby,’ so many women will say, ‘I felt like I was the first person in the world
to be miscarrying,’” said Vicki Culling, an educator about baby loss who has
pushed for better support for bereaved parents in New Zealand.
“The foundations of your world just crumble, because you expect
to have this beautiful baby, and when that baby dies, whether it’s in utero or
soon after birth, everything is shattered.”
Culling applauded the New Zealand legislation as a first step
but said there was more to be done.
“You get three days’ paid leave, maybe you bury your baby or you
have a service, and then you go back to work, and you carry on — and then what?
That’s my concern,” she said.
“I’m celebrating it, but I want to see us keeping this compassion
going and looking further into the needs of these parents.”
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