Tim Loughton and two of his constituents, Hayley and Frazer, met Health Minister Dan Poulter to discuss redefining still birth registration on Wednesday 9th April.
Currently, if a mother loses a baby before 24 weeks the state does not recognise the existence of the baby which can exacerbate what is already a highly personal and traumatic loss.
This issue came to light when Tim’s constituent, Hayley, approached him with her personal experiences of losing a baby before the 24 week period and the impact this has had on her as she was forced to suffer in silence. Hayley had unfortunately earlier suffered both a miscarriage – which usually happens early on in a pregnancy - and subsequently given birth to a stillborn child in hospital after 20 weeks. She was clear they were different situations, but the law treated them in exactly the same manner. The stillbirth was effectively ‘only another miscarriage’ she was told. Neither losses could be registered; in effect they had never existed despite having carried a child for almost two thirds of a regular pregnancy period.
Hayley and have Tim have been campaigning on the issue with Tim introducing a Private Members Bill earlier this year. Tim called for a revision to the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 section 41 as amended by the Stillbirth (definition) Act 1992 and argued the case for formal registration of still born babies born under the current 24 week threshold. On Wednesday, they met Health Minister Dan Poulter who was sympathetic to Hayley’s plight and promised to look at the issue in more detail and take it up with the President of The Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists to take the issue forward. Tim met representatives of the Royal College himself the following day who were also supportive of the reforms and said that they would report back to colleagues.