New landmark legislation for bereaved parents welcomed by support services

Miscarriage support services are welcoming new landmark legislation, designed to support parents who lose a child during early pregnancy.

The passage of the "Leave for Loss" Bill adds miscarriage to the compassionate and bereavement leave entitlement, under the Fair Work Act.

This means parents will be offered two days paid leave, if they suffer a miscarriage within the first 20 weeks.

The amendment was first introduced to the Senate in June by Attorney-General Michaelia Cash and passed on Tuesday.

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Studies show miscarriage affects one in three Australian women, but because the data is not included in the National Census Survey, experts believe that figure is actually much higher.

Pink Elephants is a not-for-profit organisation that provides support to anyone impacted by early pregnancy loss.

CEO Samantha Payne has been lobbying the government for this measure over the past three years.

When asked about what the amendment means for parents, she said: "It's historic that we've made such a monumental change to the law of Australia that now recognises miscarriage...what we're really excited about is we're seeing a trend that workplaces now are opening up their eyes to the issue of pregnancy loss."

One of the key components of the bill is that it includes partners, not just the woman carrying the child.

Ms Payne says it's essential both parents are offered the same level of support.

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"Partners deserve to have the bereavement leave as well and that's really important because often partners are silenced around the experience of miscarriage and they're often framed into a support person for the woman who's going through it but they too have lost a child that they expected to have in their arms in the next six to nine months, they too are grieving a profound loss."

Moving forward, she hopes the legislation will help remove the stigma associated with losing a child in early pregnancy.

"The most important thing to do is to acknowledge it, is to validate the experience as grief and to be there and support your loved ones who go through this."

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