The end of a costly and painful obligation. August 6th, changes to regulations for thousands of women.
- On August 6, according to the announcement by Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk, two regulations regarding the rights of women after miscarriage and stillbirth will come into force
- "Two regulations, two signatures. A small change that could change the fate of approximately 30,000 women a year," she pointed out.
- She noted that the last meeting of the Team for the Development of Solutions to Support Parents Experiencing Pregnancy Loss and the Death of a Child Shortly After Birth was devoted to the situation of men who accompany women in this situation.
- - There are very few solutions in the current regulations that would even recognize the role of men in such a situation - she added.
At Monday's press briefing, Dziemianowicz-Bąk recalled that two regulations regarding rights for women after miscarriage and stillbirth were signed in July and will come into force on August 6.
"These regulations will change lives, transform the situation of women and families who are deeply affected by fate, who are facing an extremely difficult experience. So difficult that the state's only role and responsibility in such a situation should be to help, provide support, and ensure the best possible return to relative normality," she stated.
As she noted, miscarriage affects approximately 30,000 women in Poland each year .
According to the head of the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy, the current law "theoretically" allowed women to exercise a number of rights after miscarriage, including access to funeral benefits and leave. In practice, however, to exercise these rights, it was necessary to determine the sex of the lost child.
"It's not that simple [...]. In situations where miscarriages occurred early, at home rather than in a hospital, determining the sex required very difficult, stressful, and expensive genetic testing," the minister noted.
"Not every woman in this situation even considers how to conduct these tests, where to go, how to protect a lost pregnancy, or how to react. Not every woman, not every family after a loss, can afford the several hundred złoty expense of such tests. Without these tests, without determining the gender, exercising formal rights has been impossible until now," said Dziemianowicz-Bąk.
She noted that thanks to the regulations that will come into force on August 6, a certificate issued by a doctor or midwife confirming the loss of pregnancy is sufficient to benefit from the funeral allowance and shortened leave.
"Two regulations, two signatures. A small change that could change the fate of approximately 30,000 women a year, but also their loved ones, their partners, their families. It's a return to normalcy and a transformation of cruel law into humane law," the minister said.
Dziemianowicz-Bąk recalled that the regulations are the result of the work of the Team for Developing Solutions to Support Parents Experiencing Miscarriage and Child Death Soon After Birth, which is still operating and working on further solutions. She noted that the Team's last meeting was dedicated to the situation of men who accompany women in this situation.
"There are very few solutions in current regulations that even acknowledge the role of men in this situation, that acknowledge their perspective, that recognize that this is also their experience of loss. We will continue to work on solutions specifically addressed to them," she announced.
- We are analyzing what changes would be needed in the Labor Code and other regulations that would allow the partner of a woman experiencing a miscarriage to take time to return to her own mental well-being and be able to provide care and support to her (partner - PAP), she added.
When asked whether the name of the benefit that entitles you to leave after a miscarriage, which is currently referred to in the regulations as maternity leave, would change, Dziemianowicz-Bąk admitted that the name was "unfortunate."
"We wanted the change to be more than symbolic, but tangible and implementable as quickly as possible. That's why we decided to go through regulations rather than legislation. Changing the nomenclature of these benefits would require amending the laws, which would delay the implementation of these solutions by many months. However, we didn't have time to waste, as this is the experience of approximately 30,000 women each year," she explained.
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