New Zealand Law Granting Paid Leave for Miscarriage Sparks Organizing in US
Mo Major holds his 2 1/2-week-old son Maverick on March 26, 2020, in Mount Vernon, New York.
John Moore / Getty Images
When New Zealand’s Parliament extended three days of paid leave to workers and their partners following a miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or stillbirth, as well as to those whose plans to welcome a child through adoption or surrogacy become derailed, it cast a spotlight on how countries throughout the world treat the aftermath of pregnancy loss.
A Better Balance, a U.S. organization working to improve economic security and expand benefits for pregnant and parenting workers, is one of many groups that has weighed in on New Zealand’s expanded leave. “New Zealand’s policy shift opened up an opportunity for conversations about what workers need to care for themselves and their families,” Molly Weston Williamson, the group’s director of Paid Leave and Future of Work, told