New Zealand not the first to provide paid miscarriage leave; India has a law since 1960s

Last month, New Zealand made headlines after it unanimously approved a bill giving parents three days of bereavement leave after a miscarriage or stillbirth. In what was seen as a landmark decision, Labour MP Ginny Andersen who tabled the Bereavement Leave for Miscarriage Bill said that it would help parents come to terms with their loss without facing any pressure to use up their sick leave entitlements. Moreover, the nation also said that it would extend this bereavement leave to parents, their partners, and parents who were having a child through adoption or surrogacy; the only exception being cases of abortion or termination of pregnancy.

With the nation gaining unprecedented accolades for this decision, it is important to note that New Zealand is not the first to provide paid leave after miscarriage. In fact, many Asian nations have had similar if not more widespread benefits for grieving parents for close to six decades now.

Interestingly, India has had the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act since 1961 which grants 6 weeks of fully paid leave for women who experience a miscarriage at any stage in their pregnancy. In case of a miscarriage or medical termination of pregnancy, the law permits women six weeks’ leave after the procedure and in case of an illness after delivery, miscarriage, medical termination of pregnancy or tubectomy, a woman can claim a leave with wages for a further period of one month, over and above what is allowed.

The Philippines allows 60 days of paid leave for miscarriage at any stage of a woman's pregnancy and also extends this to emergency terminations and abortions, unlike New Zealand. 

Other countries which have fully paid miscarriage leaves include Indonesia which grants 6 weeks and Mauritius which grants 3 weeks for miscarriage and a whopping 14 weeks for stillbirth. 

Taiwan has a conditional paid miscarriage leave between 5 days to 4 weeks depending on how far along the pregnancy was. 

As opposed to the aforementioned Asian nations, New Zealand grants only 3 days of paid leave, which also refrains from extending to abortions. However, several Western media reports have lauded the country for being one of the first nations to bring such a forward-thinking Law. While it is the first White nation to do so, it is certainly not the first country across the world to bring such an amendment.