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Woman launches petition to have daughter who was born dead at 19 weeks recognised as stillborn

A mum has launched a campaign to have babies who die in the womb before 24 weeks classified as stillborn rather than as a miscarriage after her daughter was born dead at 19 weeks gestation.

Rachel Guinan, 28 from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, lost her baby girl, Kiara, earlier this year when she was born dead at just 19 weeks. To add to the grief of losing her daughter, Guinan was shocked to discover that her daughter Kiara was classed as a miscarriage and not a stillbirth due to the fact that she was born before 24 weeks.

Guinan said: “I want the government to change this SAD law that defines stillbirth as only applying to babies lost after 24 weeks. When a mother has to give birth to the child, this is a stillborn baby”.

She went on to tell LancsLive: “I gave birth on April 4 to our beautiful baby girl who was born at 19 weeks one day gestation. Sadly, in the eyes of the law this is a miscarriage. I couldn’t disagree more, I also don’t believe many other mothers would agree with this legal definition”.

Paying tribute to the ‘amazing’ staff at the hospital, she added: “The staff from the hospital could not have been any more helpful. They showed compassion and knew what we were going through was a really hard situation and they gave us time with her whenever we wanted. We can’t thank the midwives and doctors any more for everything they had done for us”.

It’s diabolical and disgusting that they can say this”

Guinan said that the hospital staff were also shocked to discover that Kiara was classed as a stillbirth rather than a miscarriage.

The law in England and Wales classes any baby born dead after 24 weeks as a stillbirth. Any baby born dead before this point is not legally recognised as it is classed as a stillbirth.

Guinan added: “But my baby isn’t classed as a stillborn baby, she’s a miscarriage. It’s diabolical and disgusting that they can say this”.

“The midwives at the time also explained this and agreed I am right she is a baby and she’s beautiful. They said if they could change the law themselves, they would as this isn’t right”.

She has since started a petition to change the law. The petition page reads: “No parent should have to go through this horrific situation to be told they have suffered a miscarriage, when a mother has physically delivered a baby”.

Baby loss certificate

The Government has announced that it will be introducing a certificate to provide legal recognition for women whose babies die within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. It is not yet clear if the pregnancy loss certificate will amend existing legislation regarding miscarriage and stillbirth.

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson said: “The introduction of pregnancy loss certificates does not appear to be a direct response to Guinan, although it must be great news for her important campaign”.

“All forms of baby loss, whether through miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion, are a great sadness. The lives of unborn babies matter, no matter their gestation”.

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Dear reader,

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like you across the UK, the McArthur assisted suicide Bill in Scotland was defeated in March by 69 votes to 57.

Then, in April, the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill fell in the House of Lords.

Many commentators thought both Bills would become law.

If that had happened, governments in England, Scotland and Wales would now be preparing to roll out assisted suicide services.

Over the coming decades, this would have led to the deaths of many thousands of vulnerable people.

But that is not what happened.

Because supporters like you acted, those Bills were stopped.

Because of you, many vulnerable lives have been saved.

These were two very significant victories. But sadly, they are not the last battles we face this year.

The new Parliamentary session begins this Wednesday. We now face three major threats.

  1. Attempts to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill and bypass the House of Lords

    The assisted suicide lobby, led by Dignity in Dying, a multi-million-pound pressure group, has made it clear that it is going to attempt to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill in the next parliamentary session.

    It then plans to use the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords and force the Bill into law.

  2. Labour Government plans for a major expansion of abortion provision, including financial incentives for ‘lunch-hour’ abortions

    Under these plans, the Government would financially incentivise major abortion providers, BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices, to provide ‘lunch-hour’ or ‘same-day’ abortions.

    ‘Lunch-hour’ abortion services are walk-in abortion services designed to fit into a woman’s lunch hour.

    Women facing an unplanned pregnancy need time, care and support, not a system that gives abortion clinics a financial incentive to rush them through consultations, scans and abortions on the same day.

    If these plans go ahead, many more lives are likely to be ended by abortion here in the UK.

  3. Extreme abortion up to birth proposals in Scotland

    In Scotland, plans are moving forward to introduce an extreme abortion up to birth law. This would go far beyond the abortion law change recently backed by the Lords for England and Wales.

    A review of abortion law in Scotland, commissioned by Humza Yousaf when he was Scottish First Minister, recommended that the Scottish Government scrap the current 24-week time limit – and abortion be available on social grounds, including for sex-selective purposes, right up to birth.

    The final plans are expected to be brought forward as a Government Bill in the new Scottish Parliament, which begins this Thursday.

If these three major threats succeed, thousands of vulnerable lives will be lost.

We cannot allow this to happen.

We can only defeat these three major threats with your help.

We ran our biggest campaigns ever to help defeat the assisted suicide Bills at Westminster and in Scotland.

That work has made a serious dent in our limited resources.

To cover this gap and ensure we can effectively defeat these three major threats in the coming months, we are aiming to raise at least £199,250 by midnight this Sunday (17 May 2026).

We are, therefore, appealing to you to please give as generously as you can.

Every donation, large or small, will make a crucial difference in saving the lives of the unborn and many others. Plus, if you are a UK taxpayer, £1 becomes £1.25 with Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.

By stopping these threats, YOU can save lives during this new Parliamentary session.

Will you donate now to help protect vulnerable lives from these three major threats?

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Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help stop three major anti-life threats.