Women who miscarry should get two weeks of paid leave, say MPs

Women who miscarry should get two weeks of paid leave from work so they can mourn the loss of their baby, an influential group of MPs says today.

- Denis Campbell

The government is coming under mounting pressure to introduce a new right of bereavement leave for women across the UK who lose their baby before 24 weeks gestation. That happens 250,000 times every year. Although a growing number of employers already offer it as a discretionary extra benefit, it needs to be a universal right - for women and their partners - given the far-reaching physical and emotional impacts of baby loss, said the Commons women and equalities committee. It would be a compassionate move and give those who have had a miscarriage "time to grieve", the MPs