Myleene Klass campaigns for paid bereavement leave to cover miscarriages
Watch: Myleene Klass campaigns for paid bereavement leave to cover miscarriages
Myleene Klass has questioned how you can place the loss of a child in the same bracket as someone having a cold as she campaigned for paid bereavement leave to be extended to those who experience a miscarriage.
MPs from the Women and Equalities Committee are calling for a law change to ensure paid bereavement leave is available to women and their partners who experience a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks.
Since April 2020 employees can be eligible for statutory parental bereavement leave and pay if there is a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy, but there is no specific leave for a pre-24 week loss in the form of miscarriage, which is something the radio presenter wants to change.
Klass, who is mother to daughters Ava and Hero and son Apollo, has suffered four miscarriages and often spoken openly about the psychological effects of baby loss on women.
Appearing on this morning's Good Morning Britain with MP Sarah Owen she backed up the claim from campaigners that sick leave is an "inappropriate and inadequate form of employer support" for people experiencing miscarriage.
"With bereavement leave, the parameters or the boundaries for both the employee and the employer are very clear," she told hosts Susannah Reid and Ed Balls. "This is not the first time that this has been mooted, which is, I guess, frustrating, but again, at the same time, it shows the importance that people do feel we need this change.
Klass says she believes the change is "integral" to looking after both the women and the family’s mental health.
"How can you dismiss the loss of a child as in the same bracket or the same arena as someone having a common cold and just needing to go and see a GP," she continued. "There has been a baby loss and that should be acknowledged."
Owen, who herself has experienced a miscarriage, explained that though she was granted time off from her employer following her loss it had to be taken as sick leave.
"For me it kind of reinforced the idea that there was something wrong with myself, that I had done something wrong. It was my fault I miscarried and actually that's not true," she explained. "As Myleene has said it is not a sickness, you need time to grieve and you need to feel supported. And as a woman you need to feel that this wasn't your fault, because there's enough going on at that time. Many women we heard from in the inquiry were worried it was going to kick in HR warnings and so sick leave really isn't appropriate for this."
She went on to say that with bereavement leave women would have up to two weeks left alone to deal with their grief.
The committee has said an estimated more than one in five pregnancies end before 24 weeks, with between 10% and 20% of pregnancies ending in the first 12 weeks, known as early miscarriage.
But despite the figures, Klass, 46, explained there is no data collection on miscarriages and a lack of understanding on why they occur.
"We don’t have any idea whether fertility issues or miscarriage runs in families, because we have been taught for so long as women to keep silent," she said.
Klass says this fuels a culture of silence surrounding the topic of pregnancy and baby loss: “It’s a deep, dark secret, even the first trimester, we keep silent in our pregnancy.
"Then what happens is you then need to go to your doctor, or you then need to go to your employer and say I was pregnant, and now I’ve lost a baby, and it’s a double whammy, and this secrecy is something that is an actual effective prison for women."
The musician and campaigner said the former government previously told her extending the paid bereavement leave would "cost them too much".
"I asked them ‘What does too much look like?’ And they didn’t have a figure because there was no data collected," she added.
She said it would "cost everyone far less" if there was a consolidated point for women to go to and "get the correct treatment they deserve".
The musician, presenter and entrepreneur, who is an ambassador for the pregnancy and baby charity Tommy’s, was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to women’s health, miscarriage awareness and to charity in the New Year Honours list.
For more information and support you can visit Tommy’s or stillbirth and neonatal death charity, Sands UK.
Read more about pregnancy and baby loss:
'Nobody else really understands' Bereaved parents invited to memorial for babies (Grimsby Live, 2-min read)
Myleene Klass breaks down in tears over miscarriage heartache (Yahoo Entertainment UK, 3-min read)
Introducing baby loss certificates shows the conversation around miscarriage is slowly changing (The Independent, 5-min read)
