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Government introduces certificate to recognise life lost before 24 weeks

In a recent Government response to a Pregnancy Loss Review, baby loss certificates are being introduced for lives lost before 24 weeks gestation. 

“Recognition of life lost”

Maria Caulfield MP, Women’s Minister, introduced the Government’s response as a means of helping families to deal with the pain of lives “cruelly cut short”. 

An immediate action that the Government is implementing is the introduction of a certificate of baby loss in “recognition of life lost” before 24 weeks. The optional certificate will provide official recognition of the loss of the child in the womb, though the response makes it clear that this is not a legal document. 

Dignified treatment of remains

In the past, tragic stories have been shared of women who have been told to retrieve the remains of their baby from the toilet or to store them in the fridge. The Government has now committed to a review of guidance on the sensitive handling of remains so that women and families are not asked to treat the remains of any babies they have lost as “waste products”. 

Other recommendations include allowing women to receive treatment if they experience recurrent miscarriages, increasing funding for bereavement support related to baby loss, granting bereavement leave for staff who experience baby loss before 24 weeks, and improving information about baby loss in healthcare settings. 

“Gross contradiction” in attitude to baby loss and abortion

Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said “The loss of every life causes great sadness, no matter at what point this happens. We welcome the Government’s increased recognition of the value of life in the womb before 24 weeks through the recommendations laid out in this response”. 

“These recommendations however do not go far enough and demonstrate a gross contradiction in the Government’s attitude to babies in the womb. Whilst the lives of babies lost through miscarriage are now rightly being recognised, the hundreds of thousands of babies lost to abortion every year in the UK are not”.

In the UK, babies can be aborted for any reason up to 24 weeks and up to birth in cases of fetal disability. It is no surprise that families are not offered emotional support for baby loss before 24 weeks when, in other circumstances, ending a baby’s life through abortion before 24 weeks is considered by some as a right rather than a tragedy. Babies lost to abortion are too frequently dehumanised rather than valued”.

“The UK abortion law needs to be changed urgently to reflect the humanity of every child in the womb from the moment of conception”.  

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Dear reader,

Despite the Leadbeater assisted-suicide Bill passing its Third Reading on 20 June, it scraped through by just 23 votes (314-291) after enjoying a 55-vote majority at Second Reading. Had 12 more MPs switched sides, the Bill would be dead. It now limps into the Lords with a wafer-thin majority, where peers can amend, delay or reject it outright.

THE CHALLENGE

Dignity in Dying, My Death My Decision and Humanists UK have poured millions into pushing assisted suicide and will fight hard to stop the Lords overturning the Bill.

At the same time, the Antoniazzi abortion-up-to-birth amendment, passed by MPs in June, also heads to the Lords. If it becomes law, it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason – including sex-selective purposes – and at any point up to and during birth.

We will be up against the UK’s largest abortion providers, BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes), who are expected to push for even more extreme changes to our abortion laws in the Lords.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

Thousands of vulnerable lives are now at stake. Battling these two threats is the biggest and most expensive effort in our history, and has drained our limited resources. To fight effectively on both fronts, we aim to raise £200,000 by midnight this Sunday (13 July 2025).

Every donation, large or small, will help protect lives, and UK taxpayers can add 25p to every £1 through Gift Aid at no extra cost.

Will you make a donation now to help protect vulnerable lives from these major threats?

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to protect vulnerable lives

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help fight major assisted suicide and abortion up to birth threats.