Officials in the country will be entitled to three days’ leave after a spontaneous abortion under the law, which must obtain royal consent after going through its final stage in parliament.
Ginny Andersen, the Labor MP who introduced the bill, said she would make New Zealand the second country to provide such a benefit that she knows about. India allows women six weeks off after a miscarriage.
“I can only hope that, although we may be one of the first, we are not one of the last, and that other countries also begin to legislate for a system of compassionate and just leave that recognizes the pain and sadness that come from spontaneous and stillborn abortion” , she said in parliament during the final reading of the bill.
While reading the bill on Wednesday night, Andersen acknowledged that many employers already grant leave to employees who have suffered a miscarriage. But she said that “there are some who are making employees use their sick leave at a time when they are dealing with extreme losses, and that is insensitive and wrong.”
The bill passed without any dissent, and the legislators who spoke in its final debate unanimously praised the content of the legislation.
“Occasionally, and not often enough, in my opinion, we come together as parliamentarians in a unified, dignified and respectful way to do the right thing,” said Scott Simpson, member of the opposition, center-right National Party, during the debate. . “This is an example of such an occasion.”