In a watershed moment for miscarriage recognition, over 100,000 baby loss certificates have now been issued to parents who have lost a pregnancy before 24 weeks. Back in October, the government announced that the scheme – which had been in place since February 2024 – would be expanded to include anyone who’d lost a child before September 2018. Seven months on, thousands more parents have finally had their loss formally recognised.

Baroness Gillian Merron, the under-secretary of state for women’s health, with whom we visited the Tommy’s research centre in Birmingham last year, paid tribute to “the bravery of countless women who have spoken up about their experiences, and to campaigners for their perseverance and great work promoting this service”. She vowed that Labour will “always listen to women and families as we reform our NHS and maternity services to make sure everyone gets the care and compassion they deserve”.

As well as supporting Stylist’s Every Loss Counts campaign, the government has committed to ensuring that bereaved parents are better supported and that the impact of their loss is recognized. The news comes just weeks after we met with Wes Streeting, the health secretary, to hand over our report into the state of miscarriage in the UK. Along with over 150 stories and testimonies from readers and advocates, it outlined four key recommendations for improved services, including compulsory empathy training, the counting of miscarriages and structured after-care.

Speaking about today’s news, Cea Harmer, the chief executive of baby loss charity Sands, said: “It’s wonderful that baby loss certificates have enabled so many bereaved parents in England whose lives have been touched by pregnancy loss to get official recognition that their babies existed and matter.

“The certificates are an important part of many people’s bereavement journey, and while we recognise they are not something everyone wants, we would like all bereaved parents to have that choice. Sands is here to offer understanding and emotional support for every bereaved parent and family, for as long as they need this.” 

The Department of Health and Social Care has also vowed to improve maternity outcomes in terms of more midwives being trained, cutting gynaecology waiting lists and working on ways to cut waiting lists for conditions like endometriosis.  

You can read more about the Every Loss Counts report here. 

Images: Getty