State employees suffering a pregnancy loss will receive up to five days of bereavement leave under a bill passed by the state Senate Thursday.
House Bill 65 provides State employees who suffer a miscarriage, stillbirth, or other loss, a maximum of 5 days of paid bereavement leave. This includes terminated pregnancies, regardless of medical necessity, which sparked debate between the bill’s co-sponsor state Sen. Nicole Poore and state Sen. Eric Buckson.
Buckson introduced an amendment that would define “other loss” to only include termination of pregnancy for therapeutic reasons. Poore says it was an unfriendly amendment.
“In 2022, statewide benefits reported that 169 of our state employees suffered a loss," Poore says. "Establishing paid leave for a common pregnancy outcome would destigmatize the experience and offer support for individuals during a physical and an emotional time.”
The amendment failed and ultimately, the bill passed with 20 ‘yes’ and one ‘no’ from State Sen. Bryant Richardson, who says he could not support bereavement leave for elective abortions.
State Sen. Laura Sturgeon noted the bill does not include school employees, and says she intends to introduce a bill in January that would grant them five days of paid bereavement leave as well.
Sturgeon argues that terminated pregnancies can involve grief too.
“Sometimes they don’t, sometimes they feel relief, sometimes they feel relief and grief all mixed together," Sturgeon says. "But I just wanted to point out that I feel that is a bit of an inconsistency. If it is your belief that women find themselves suffering with great grief after the loss of a pregnancy they have chosen to terminate, I would think you would want them to have the opportunity to grieve that loss.”
The Senate also passed a bill increasing the amount of compassionate leave for state employees upon the death of a family member from three days to five.
