Latest news with #pregnancyLoss
The Independent
07-07-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Parents given ‘time to heal' under plans to expand leave for pregnancy loss
The UK government plans to amend the Employment Rights Bill to provide bereavement leave for parents experiencing pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. This change will ensure protected time off, addressing current rules that only grant leave for stillbirths after 24 weeks or the death of a child under 18. The amendments will introduce a right to at least one week's leave for pre-24-week losses, with the precise duration to be determined following a consultation. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds supported the move, highlighting the need for dignity and families receiving the 'time they need to heal' without job concerns. The Miscarriage Association welcomed the announcement as a crucial step acknowledging the significant impact of early pregnancy loss on individuals and their partners.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
People to be entitled to time off work if they lose baby before 24 weeks
People will be entitled to bereavement leave if they lose a pregnancy before 24 weeks, under new plans to be unveiled by the Government. Ministers are set to amend the Employment Rights Bill so that people will be entitled to protected time off in the event of a pregnancy loss, regardless of the stage at which it happens. Angela Rayner has said that the change will give 'people time away from work to grieve'. Under current rules, parents are entitled to up to two weeks of bereavement leave if a child dies before they turn 18, or they experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Amendments to the Employment Rights Bill, will see the right to 'at least one week's leave' expanded to people who lose a pregnancy before 24 weeks. The exact length of the leave will be specified in later legislation after a consultation. The Bill already makes provision to expand bereavement leave, giving employees protected time off to grieve the loss of a loved one. READ MORE: One of two boys found dead on railway line pictured READ MORE: Highly infectious new Covid Stratus takes over UK with unique symptom Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said that the amendments will offer 'dignity and respect'. 'For many families, including mine, that have been affected by pregnancy loss, the decision around returning to work or taking sick leave to grieve properly can make an already painful experience even more difficult,' he said. 'Grief doesn't follow a timetable, and expanding rights to leave for pregnancy loss will ensure every family gets the time they need to heal without worrying about their job.' Deputy Prime Minister Ms Rayner similarly said that 'no-one who is going through the heartbreak of pregnancy loss should have to go back to work before they are ready'. 'I am proud that this Government is introducing a day-one right to protected time off work after experiencing pregnancy loss, giving people time away from work to grieve and spend time with their families,' she said. Vicki Robinson, chief executive of the Miscarriage Association, welcomed the announcement, saying it was 'a hugely important step that acknowledges the often very significant impact of pre-24-week loss, not only for those experiencing the physical loss, but for their partners too'. It comes after ministers announced they would review the system of parental leave, declaring that the current system is 'not working' for families. Mr Reynolds said the Government will investigate the whole system for supporting new parents to take time off work when they have a baby, including maternity leave, paternity leave and shared arrangements.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bereavement leave to be extended to miscarriages before 24 weeks
Parents who experience a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy will be entitled to bereavement leave under a planned law change. The government is set to amend the Employment Rights Bill to give parents the legal right to take time off work to grieve if they experience pregnancy loss at any stage. As it stands, bereavement leave is only available to parents who lose an unborn child after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said the change will give "people time away from work to grieve". "No one who is going through the heartbreak of pregnancy loss should have to go back to work before they are ready," Rayner said. Parents are currently entitled to a fortnight's leave if they suffer pregnancy loss after 24 weeks, or if a child younger than 18 dies. The extended right to leave will be for "at least" one week, though the exact length is still being consulted on. The Employment Rights Bill, which includes further measures to protect in law the right of employees to have time off to grieve the loss of a loved one, is already making its way through Parliament. Labour MP Sarah Owen, who chairs the Women and Equalities Committee, has previously campaigned for the change. In 2021, she told MPs that after her own miscarriage she felt physically better in a few days but had "all the classic signs" of grieving. "I could not eat, I could not sleep. I really did not hold much hope that life would ever get brighter," she said. In March, business minister Justin Madders told MPs he accepted the principle of bereavement leave for pregnancy loss and promised to look at adding the right to the Employment Rights Bill. Vicki Robinson, chief executive of the Miscarriage Association, welcomed the announcement. She said it was "a hugely important step that acknowledges the often very significant impact of pre-24-week loss, not only for those experiencing the physical loss, but for their partners too". Government backs miscarriage bereavement leave Paid leave for bereaved parents is 'crucial' 'I went back after 3 days': Calls for miscarriage bereavement leave
CNN
24-06-2025
- Health
- CNN
Tens of thousands of women traveled for abortion care again last year as state policies continue to shift
For 2½ hours in February 2024, Gracie Ladd and her husband sat in heavy silence as they drove from their home in southern Wisconsin to Chicago. Their spirits were as cold and gray as the Midwestern winter passing by the car windows; Ladd was 20 weeks pregnant and had recently learned that a severe fetal condition made the developing baby 'incompatible with life.' Staying pregnant could put her own health at risk, too. But abortion wasn't an option in Wisconsin, where a 175-year-old state law had effectively banned the procedure at the time. That law has since been overturned, but Ladd, her family and her doctors were stuck in a legal gray area that raised fear and worry. And instead of being surrounded by familiar comforts at one of the most distressing points of her life, Ladd had to take time off from work, coordinate child care for her 2-year-old son and travel more than 100 miles from home to a health care provider she had never met. 'In the moment when it was all happening … I was more focused on just getting through the grief of that time. But as the months went on and I was sitting with what happened able to process it, I just got really mad,' Ladd said. 'How asinine is it that my health care providers can say, 'Yes, this is what you need, this is the best option for you, but we can't do it. You have to go here because our hospital is uncomfortable due to legal reasons to provide this procedure'?' Instead, Ladd spent an hours-long ride home lying uncomfortably the back seat of the car, nauseated and in pain – a trip that tens of thousands of others also made last year, often for even an even longer time, and sometimes alone. More than 1 in 7 people who had an abortion in the United States last year crossed state lines to do so, according to new estimates from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights. The patterns highlight the lasting impact of the US Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, which revoked the federal right to an abortion and created a fractured landscape of care – with ongoing policy changes that continue to affect tens of thousands. About 155,000 people traveled out of state for an abortion in 2024, according to the new Guttmacher estimates — more than twice as many as in 2019. Nearly half of those who traveled for an abortion last year came from a dozen states that have enacted total bans, the Guttmacher data shows, including more than 28,000 Texas residents who left the state for an abortion last year – more than any other state. Most often, those Texas residents traveled to neighboring New Mexico, where abortion is legal. Kansas and Colorado also welcomed thousands of Texas residents for abortions last year. For some Texas residents, getting to a neighboring state requires a full day of travel. But in some parts of the country – particularly in the Southeast – options for abortion care require people to travel through multiple states. In the first year and a half after the Dobbs decision, Florida had become a key access point for abortion care. In 2023, more than 9,000 people traveled from other states to get an abortion in Florida, according to Guttmacher data. About 1 in 12 abortions nationwide and 1 in 3 abortions in the South were performed in Florida at that time. But in May 2024, a six-week ban took effect in Florida – limiting abortions to a point before most women know they're pregnant. The number of people who traveled to Florida for an abortion last year was cut in half, Guttmacher data shows. And nearly 8,000 people left Florida to get an abortion in another state last year, often crossing through least three states for care. Despite the restrictions imposed by North Carolina law – a 12-week gestational limit and a 72-hour waiting period – the great gap created by Florida's new, even tighter restrictions drove a significant increase in travel from Florida to North Carolina for abortion care. Floridians traveled even farther north for abortion care, too: About 10 times more people traveled from Florida to Virginia in 2024 compared with 2023, and more than 2,000 people traveled up to New York last year. 'We keep relearning the same lesson with these data, in some ways, which is that what happens in one state doesn't stay in one state and really has ripple effects in many others,' said Isaac Maddow-Zimet, a data scientist with Guttmacher. 'Especially when it comes to travel patterns, the decisions that people are making about where they can travel are so complicated and so impacted by a network of restrictions that people are having to navigate, particularly in the Southeast.' Illinois has remained a key access point for people traveling for an abortion nationwide; More than a fifth of the people who traveled for an abortion last year went to Illinois, the new Guttmacher data shows. The state drew more than 35,000 out-of-state residents for an abortion in 2024, more than any other state. Experts say that stakeholders across Illinois have made their stance on abortion rights clear, with politicians, advocates, providers and more committing to protect access. 'We are not just working on advocacy and not just passing good laws; we are directly investing in abortion funding, which is life-saving, and that has an immediate impact. Up and down the state, we take that very seriously,' said Megan Jeyifo, executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund. The investments around abortion care in Illinois – including clinics opening, expanded hours and growing the number of providers – have also meant there are a lot of appointments available, she said. 'When you are pregnant and do not want to be, one more week makes a big difference,' Jeyifo said. 'The conditions we've created here in Illinois are not only available to people of means, they are available to all.' Choices Center for Reproductive Health opened a new clinic in southern Illinois in late 2023, and the vast majority of the patients seen there – about 90% – come from other states, President and CEO Jennifer Pepper said. 'I pull into the parking lot and I see license plates from Texas and Louisiana and Tennessee, so I know that these patients have traveled a minimum of four hours,' Pepper said. 'If they could just go down the street to their regular ob/gyn, they could be in and out under an hour. It's a lot of wasted hours for a lot of people that are taking care of children and teaching and being nurses and just caring for our communities. That's what I think about when I see the patients.' The clinic's policy is to see any patient who makes it to its doors. 'We don't turn people away for abortion care, even if they're four hours late, because that's care they need. They've gone through a lot, and they've traveled a great distance to access it, so we take care of them,' Pepper said. 'Cars break down, tires go flat, you get caught in traffic, children have to eat, the babysitter shows up late – these are all things that happen, and it takes a lot of compassion and willing to be flexible.' The clinic is able to be flexible in large part because its schedule is not overbooked. Pepper says part of that may be thanks to the growing use of telehealth to access medication abortion, including those that are accessed through shield laws by individuals living in states with abortion bans. Another new report, published Monday by the Society of Family Planning, found that 1 in 4 abortions in 2024 were provided through telehealth – up from 1 in 5 in 2023 and just 1 in 20 in 2022. At the end of 2024, an average of 12,330 abortions each month were provided under shield laws, up about 40% from the start of the year. 'Millions of people live in states where abortion is banned or restricted, and traveling for care isn't an option for everyone,' Dr. Angel Foster, co-founder of the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project (The MAP), a shield law practice, said in a statement. 'By providing safe, affordable medication abortion via telemedicine, we make sure people can get the care they need – no matter where they live or what they can afford.' Overall, data from Guttmacher shows that the number of people traveling for an abortion has dipped slightly: About 9% fewer people crossed state lines for an abortion last year than in 2023, a difference of about 15,000 people. While access to telehealth abortions has increased, there is also less funding available for people who want to or need to travel. Choices was once able to cover 100% of the abortion costs for patients in need, but that has now dropped to 50% or less, Pepper said. And in mid-2024, the Chicago Abortion Fund also had to stop providing support to people who were traveling to states other than Illinois, Jeyifo said, jeopardizing the state's ability to absorb the increase in need for appointments. 'Telehealth has become a vital tool in expanding abortion care—especially for people in states with bans,' Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, co-chair of the #WeCount project from the Society of Family Planning and professor at the University of California, San Francisco's Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, said in a statement. 'But this access is far from guaranteed. Anti-abortion extremists are using junk science and now turning their attacks toward telehealth, trying to dismantle a lifeline for people in ban states by attempting to roll back access.'
The Guardian
07-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Women could be charged over miscarriages, a West Virginia prosecutor says
'911. What's your emergency?' 'Hello, I would like to report the fact that I am having a very heavy period. Can you send a police officer over right away to collect my menstrual matter and check whether I've broken any laws?' The above is not a transcript of an actual conversation in West Virginia but, the way things are headed, it could be a glimpse of what's to come. The Raleigh county prosecuting attorney Tom Truman recently warned that women who have a pregnancy loss in West Virginia could face criminal charges. To protect themselves, Truman said, women should call local law enforcement and report a miscarriage – which is the loss of a pregnancy before the 20th week. 'Call your doctor. Call law enforcement, or 911, and just say: 'I miscarried. I want you to know,'' Truman told the outlet WVNS 59News. Truman said he was personally opposed to prosecuting women who miscarry. But he warned that other prosecutors in West Virginia had indicated that they would be willing to file criminal charges against women who had lost a pregnancy via state laws related to the disposal of human remains. 'I thought these guys were just chewing on a Dreamsicle,' Truman lamented. But, he added, West Virginia's laws include definitions that are 'pretty broad-ranging' and give law enforcement a lot of discretion to go after women who have had a pregnancy loss. To be very clear about the law: while abortion is all but banned in West Virginia, the pregnant person themselves can't be prosecuted for having an abortion. Miscarriages also aren't explicitly criminalized. However, law enforcement can get creative and use legislation that governs the handling of fetal remains to punish women. And this sort of 'creativity' isn't just confined to West Virginia: following the 2022 overturning of Roe v Wade, a lot of women who experience pregnancy loss in the US have been plunged into legal limbo. While it would appear that Truman was trying to be helpful, I should note that calling the police isn't necessarily the best idea in a scenario where you have experienced, or suspect you've experienced, a miscarriage. 'It's always a mistake to invite law enforcement into your reproductive life,' Kim Mutcherson, a professor at Rutgers Law School, told CNN. 'I understand the idea that caution is better than being caught up in something that you weren't anticipating, but it is difficult for me to imagine any circumstance in which I would think it was safe for someone who miscarried to call the police.' If you are going to call the police, you might want to quiz them on their understanding of the female reproductive system before going into any details. After all, how many of the men salivating over the prospect of locking up women for miscarriages do you think actually know what a miscarriage is? How many of them do you think understand that an estimated 23m miscarriages occur every year globally and about 10% to 20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriages? Again, that's known pregnancies: a lot of miscarriages happen before someone even realizes they're pregnant. We don't have the full picture of why pregnancy losses occur, but they are quite often due to chromosomal abnormalities. They are often, in other words, completely out of the woman's control. And a very early miscarriage (also known as a chemical pregnancy) can be hard to distinguish from a period. Sometimes the only way to tell the difference is via medical interventions like a blood test or an ultrasound. All that said, this does strike me as a situation where a little malicious compliance wouldn't go amiss. I'm not saying women in West Virginia should call up the prosecutor's office whenever they're menstruating and ask to speak to someone about the size and consistency of their blood clots or inquire whether they'd like to send a police officer to examine the toilet before they flush. Nor am I saying that women in West Virginia should drop off their used sanitary items at their local police station so they can be thoroughly examined by the powers that be. But I'm not not saying that either! The Biden-era guidance had made it clear that hospitals in states with abortion bans cannot turn away pregnant patients who are in the midst of medical emergencies. The Trump administration has also launched an investigation into this law, which it terms 'anti-Catholic'. The 17-year-old social media influencer Sana Yousaf, whom police say was shot by a man who broke into her home, is apparently already getting blamed for her own murder. The digital rights advocacy group Bolo Bhi told the BBC that some male internet users have been asking why Yousaf was putting up online content. Ladies, if you don't want to be murdered, just remember that you shouldn't express any opinions whatsoever or ever leave the house. And you certainly shouldn't hurt a man's fragile feelings. 'Strong jawlines and prominent chins are de rigueur in Washington,' one dermatologist told Politico. In recent years, the portion of her male clients who come in seeking better-defined jaws has more than doubled. Politico has a fascinating deep dive into jawlines, power and masculinity. The Barstool Sports founder called for a missile strike on Thunberg, who recently joined other activists sailing to Gaza on an aid ship with the aim of breaking Israel's blockade. Portnoy said: 'I'll jump on Greta van Thorsten or whatever that girl's – she's sailing there. Like whoever that fuck – and I hope they hit a fucking, like, a missile on her boat. Knock that boat down.' Portnoy's comments come after the senator Lindsey Graham tweeted: 'Hope Greta and her friends can swim!' Neither Portnoy nor Graham will face any consequences for their comments, of course. Sign up to The Week in Patriarchy Get Arwa Mahdawi's weekly recap of the most important stories on feminism and sexism and those fighting for equality after newsletter promotion Please pause for a moment and take in the fact that saying you care about kids in Gaza can now be career-ending. I'll drink to that! The BBC reports that 'in 2023, Nigeria accounted for well over a quarter – 29% – of all maternal deaths worldwide'. 'You can order any kind, any size,' the actor explained. Noooo, Steve, we can't do that, the birth rate will plummet! It's been a wild week for runaway animals. In Tennessee, a pet zebra went on the lam, causing chaos on Interstate 24. Meanwhile, in the UK, a bull ran loose around the streets of Birmingham. 'This magnificent animal seemed to be enjoying an unexpected city break,' a Birmingham councillor said in a statement, noting the bull had been moved to safety. No word yet on which Birmingham sights the bull took in, or whether it popped into any china shops. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
