Supporting paid leave for women after abortions

Kia ora,

We are a group of students completing Level 3 NCEA at Wellington East Girls’ College and this year in our sociology class we are looking into paid leave for women who have experienced miscarriages and abortions.

We were pleased to find that the ‘Holiday Amendment Bill’ has passed its second reading and if passed, will mean women can access bereavement leave after a miscarriage, however, the current proposal only covers ‘unplanned’ loss of pregnancies. This means that women accessing abortions and terminations cannot take paid leave. We feel that all women should be entitled to leave after a miscarriage or an abortion.

We understand that not all women will feel a sense of loss after an abortion and that abortion is a planned intervention, so the term ‘bereavement leave’ may not be ideal in this case. However, we feel that an opportunity to support women has been missed and could be easily fixed. This is why we are hoping you will consider amending the current Holiday Amendment Bill so that it supports any woman after the end of a pregnancy for any reason.

Most submitters to the Select Committee supported the removal of the word “unplanned” from the Bill to include women who had a planned end to their pregnancy. We feel that this issue may have been sidelined by a concern from pro-choice supporters that the term bereavement, in this case, has implications in the right to life debate. While we are supportive of those concerns we think there must be a straightforward solution that removes the word “unplanned” and the classification of the type of leave itself.

As women, we understand the physical and emotional effects that would come with any end of pregnancy, and we believe this change would benefit women in the workforce across Aotearoa.

This is where we need your help! We are seeking your support to remove the word ‘unplanned’ as the Holiday Amendment Bill is still in the committee of the whole house.