MadameNoire
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Experiencing infertility and going through the emotional pain of miscarriage could be difficult for any woman, especially in today’s society where we’re often forced to bounce back and support our families throughout the hardship. Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth is looking to change that.
Duckworth introduced her Support Through Loss Act to the Senate which she created alongside Rep. Ayanna Pressley on July 20. The new bill would give benefits to families or couples experiencing pregnancy loss while trying to grow their families.
In a statement to HuffPost Duckworth shared while “Different families will deal with a pregnancy loss in their own ways,” they “still deserve the opportunity to deal with it.”
“People deserve the time to deal with that,” Duckworth continued. “Some people may need to grieve, others may need time to just regroup and formulate a plan to go at it again. But the key element here is time.”
Under the new legislation workers would potentially receive three days of paid leave after going through pregnancy-related complications including miscarriage, unsuccessful in vitro fertilization treatment, or any diagnosis that might affect or impact fertility.
“I went through many, many failed IVF cycles where I had my hopes up and it would fail. Each and every one of those cycles was devastating to me and my husband, but me in particular, it was pretty devastating to have to go through that [miscarriage] process and not have the time to deal with it.”
Duckworth hopes to allocate $45 million annually to the National Institutes of Health to develop more research around pregnancy loss. The bill also urges various health departments to raise more awareness about infertility and the mental health impacts it could potentially have on families.
You can read the full bill here.
