The Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Revd Andrew Watson, spoke in the House of Lords last week in support of a change to the legal definition of a stillbirth: from a death after 24 weeks into pregnancy to a death after 20 weeks.
Currently, the death of a baby before 24 weeks is considered to be a miscarriage, with implications for entitlement to bereavement leave and maternity protection, as the baby is not legally considered a person (Features, 11 October 2019).
Bishop Watson was speaking on the Lords Bill introduced by Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat). It seeks to lower the threshold for a death to be considered a stillbirth.
“Up to 10,000 families in the UK lose their babies between 20 and 24 weeks of pregnancy,” Baroness Benjamin said in the debate last Friday.
Losing a baby in pregnancy through #miscarriage or #stillbirth is still a taboo subject worldwide, linked to stigma and shame.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) March 13, 2019
Many women still do not receive appropriate and respectful care when their baby dies during pregnancy or childbirth https://t.co/IbTh4YC8oo pic.twitter.com/x7HQ253ygj