New employment laws must include bereavement leave for those who miscarry during pregnancy, a new report by the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) has said.
A period of paid leave “should be available to all women and partners who experience a pre-24-week pregnancy loss”, it concluded, adding: “the case for a minimum standard in law is overwhelming”.
The report’s central recommendation announced the Committee’s intention to table amendments to the Government’s flagship Employment Rights Bill in the name of WEC’s Chair Labour MP Sarah Owen and called on Ministers to support or adopt them.
Such a law change would bring things in line with existing provision for baby loss after 24 weeks. The report found clear evidence that the impacts pre and post 24 weeks are very similarly felt as bereavement. Currently there is no statutory acknowledgement of the grief many women and their partners will feel after a pre-24-week pregnancy loss and the effects this may have on their working lives, it said.
MPs on the cross-party committee raised concerns that recent progress towards recognising the grief of women and their families who experience pre-24 week pregnancy losses, while welcome “does not go far enough”.
Outlining the scale of the issue, the report undertaken as part of the Committee’s Equality at work inquiry, cited data estimating that more than one in five...
The CDC has allegedly posted statements suggesting vaccines may cause autism, even though decades of scientific evidence show no such link. Medical experts stress that autism is one of the most ri...