‘A deeply personal, and often invisible loss’.
Anna Daly has spoken out in support of introducing official early miscarriage leave in Ireland, after experiencing baby loss herself.
The presenter, who previously spoke about pregnancy loss on everymum the podcast, visited Leinster House to discuss this important topic with Ivana Bacik, leader of the Labour party.
Anna Daly supports campaign for official early miscarriage leave
Sharing a snap of them on Thursday, the TD for Dublin Bay South said: ‘A brilliant meeting yesterday at Leinster House with the amazing Anna Daly.
‘We discussed progress towards miscarriage leave for women with early pregnancy loss.’
Anna reshared the photo and thanked Ivana for ‘bringing humanity into politics.’
She added: ‘Miscarriage is a deeply personal and often invisible loss, yet many women are expected to return to work without acknowledgment or support.
‘Introducing official miscarriage leave in Ireland would be a meaningful step toward more compassionate, modern workplaces supporting women today and setting a standard for future generations.
‘Any thoughts at all please feel free to leave here, would love to know your feelings / experiences as we build momentum for this.’
Anna and Ivana’s meeting comes days after landmark legislation was passed in Northern Ireland that will provide two weeks of leave for a woman and her partner following a miscarriage.
This leave can be taken as one continuous period, or two separate weeks, within 56 weeks of miscarriage, and no medical evidence needs to be provided, according to RTÉ.
Chatting on an episode of everymum the podcast, Anna spoke of traumatic a time it was for her and her husband when they experienced baby loss.
After miscarrying the first time, six weeks in, she was told the statistics of the number of couples who suffer miscarriages, but when it happened again, she became very concerned.
Describing feeling pain while at a family wedding, she recalls: “Suddenly I felt those same pains again. And I was utterly heartbroken because in my head I was thinking, Oh, this isn’t a numbers game. Now. This is a problem. This is… I can’t carry a baby.”
Anna and her husband Ben have since welcomed three children, their sons James, Euan, and Rhys.
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