Extending unpaid bereavement leave to parents who experience miscarriage before 24 weeks has been welcomed by pro-life campaigners.
But critics have pointed out the “inconsistencies” between our abortion law, which permits abortion up to 24 weeks – a proposed change to the law that would mean it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason, and at any point up to and during birth; and the seperate proposed change to the law that will extend unpaid bereavement leave to parents who have experienced pregnancy loss before 24 weeks.
In a press release announcing an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill, the Department for Business and Trade, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has said it will give parents the legal right to take time off work to grieve if they experience pregnancy loss at any stage. Bereavement leave was previously only available to parents who experienced pregnancy loss after 24 weeks of pregnancy or who lost a child under the age of 18.
Announcing the amendment, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said “No one who is going through the heartbreak of pregnancy loss should have to go back to work before they are ready”.
Musician and broadcaster Myleene Klass said the move was right because “you’re not ill, you’ve lost a child, there’s a death in the family”. Klass added “It’s a taboo – nobody wants to talk about dead babies – but you have to actually say it as it is. To lose a child is harrowing, it’s traumatic”.
Criticism of “inconsistencies” in UK laws
However, critics were quick to point to the apparent inconsistency between this move and our abortion law, and especially the recent abortion up to birth amendment (NC1), tabled by Tonia Antoniazzi MP, which was passed by MPs by 379 to 137 in June.
This amendment, if it remains in the Bill and the Bill receives Royal Assent, will change the law so it will 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, likely leading to a significant increase in the number of women performing dangerous late-term abortions at home.
Director of the March For Life UK, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, said “So parents can have a fortnight off to grieve the loss of their child if they miscarry before 24 weeks but if they want to kill that same child through abortion, that’s fine too. The inconsistencies in our laws make a mockery of justice”.
Dr Dermot Kearney responded to Vaughan-Spruce’s X post saying “Inconsistencies is putting it mildly. Downright hypocrisy is possibly closer to the truth”.
“Is it a clump of cells or is it a baby?”
Commenting on the latest bereavement leave amendment, Dr Calum Miller, NHS doctor and research associate at the University of Oxford specialising in abortion policy, highlighted the conflicting messages, saying “Keir Starmer’s government are extending bereavement leave for miscarriages earlier in pregnancy [whilst] allowing abortion up to the very end of pregnancy. The question is: Is it a clump of cells or is it a baby?”.
Echoing Miller’s sentiments, journalist Paul Embery said “I’m very much in favour of this, but God knows how the government can square it with the recent decision to decriminalise abortion up to full term”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “While we welcome extending unpaid bereavement leave to parents who experience miscarriage before 24 weeks, it cannot be denied that our laws are sending a confusing and contradictory message. On the one hand, this latest amendment implies that in a miscarriage, the life of an unborn child is lost, who deserves to be mourned and grieved. On the other hand, our abortion law implies there is no life lost and nothing to be lamented when an unborn baby dies in an abortion”.
“This will leave people scratching their heads as they consider the dissonance between recognising that a baby exists before 24 weeks, and allowing a baby of the same age to be aborted”.
