Paid Leave for the Parents in the Miscarriage Case

     

Many people unfortunately, goes through a traumatic experience at some time in their life, and the human’s nature push us to stay by their side and give them psychological support and sometimes financial support.

But many women in The World forced to request a sick leave if they were working women in the miscarriage case and sometimes men request it too to stay beside their wives and support them in their mourning.

The British newspaper The Daily Mail said, Thursday, March 25, 2021, that the State of New Zealand agreed to grant paid leave to workers who suffer after cases of miscarriage or the death of the fetus as the first law to exempt bereaved women from resorting to sick leave.

Wellington said in a statement to the press that“. In New Zealand the women who face the miscarriage status or birth a dead baby along with their husbands will take a special three-day vacation, under a new law passed by the New Zealand Parliament.”

 

That Case Deserves a Three Days Paid Leave

Labor Representative Jenny Andersen explained that” The fetal death cases, whether during pregnancy or during the birth operation. The family must be given the right to leave for mourning and have a while of resting.”

"The mourning that accompanies spontaneous miscarriage is not a disease, but rather a loss that requires time to get out of the physical and psychological impact," she said that in the Parliament.

And asserting that "The New Zealand's law represents an extension of the New Zealand Parliament's role in pioneering women's rights, especially voting rights and equal wages."

She added that "I can only hope that while we may be one of the first countries that implement this just right for many families.”

And “We will not be the last and that other countries will also begin enacting legislation for a compassionate and fair leave system that recognizes the pain and grief resulting from miscarriage or birth a dead baby."

Jenny Andersen suggested that the new law would help remove the stigma surrounding abortion. Andersen told the lawmakers: "I hope this law will make women feel more comfortable talking about abortion and feel more comfortable when seeking psychological support and assistance."

 

Break the Silence

In turn, the lawmaker for the Green Party, Jean Logie said that "the change will help break the silence that women go through after abortion,"

And she Indicated that "this silence that has caused a lot of harm is beginning to be broken partly thanks to this debate and the attention of Parliament." "It is a natural occurrence; about 20 thousand women experience miscarriage or stillbirth every year."

MP Jan pointed out that it is "a very natural experience, but natural does not mean that it is easy or there is no pain in it.

But for a long time, women have forced to pretend, as if that experience (miscarriage or stillbirth) did not even happen by keep silent and act as nothing changed."

New Zealand - the first self-governing country to allow women to vote and deemed it as a right for women, in 1893 - passed a number of laws in recent years that have been praised by women's rights groups, including measures to reduce the impact of cyclical poverty.

The latest decision comes after more than a year in which the country considers that miscarriage is not a crime, and this made it a remote region among most developed countries.

According to the law, a woman will be able to abort the fetus until the 20th week of pregnancy, and she will only need a medical review after the operation.

Justice Minister Andrew Little pointed out the need to regulate safe abortion as a health issue and women have the right to choose what happens to their bodies.

Andersen admit that when she was reading the project of this law Wednesday night that many managers are already granting furloughs to female employees who have had a miscarriage.

But she also said that "There are those who make their employees use their sick leave in a time when they face heavy losses and pain and this is a cruel act towards women and it is a mistake."

And because the New Zealand Parliament has an overwhelming majority of the Labor Party, this proposal was accepted, and that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern supports the advancement of women's rights as one of her main policy goals.

Scott Simpson is an opposition member of the National Center-Right Party said that "Every now and then and not much, in my opinion, we come and meet as parliamentarians in a united, respectful, and respectful way to do the right thing and this is an example of such an occasion."

 

Written by - Noha Batayneh

Edited by - Adrija Saha