Policy Asks

Our plans for 2021

Families who have experienced pregnancy and baby loss often tell us that doing something to prevent the same thing happening to others helps them cope with their loss and grief. This year, we will be calling on national governments to take further action to prevent pregnancy and baby deaths, so watch this space for how to get involved later in the year.

Campaigning success on mental health support for bereaved mothers

In April 2021, NHS England announced more mental health support for bereaved mothers. Our 2019 Out of Sight, Out of Mind campaign called for the Government to take action to ensure that all parents who experience pregnancy or baby loss and need specialist psychological support can access it, at a time and place that is right for them, free of charge, wherever they live.

The 26 new hubs take us much closer to achieving that by bringing together maternity services, reproductive health and psychological therapy under one roof, including for those bereaved by the death of a baby.

Read the Out of Sight, Out of Mind Report (2019)

Baby Loss Awareness Week 2020

In 2020, we called for action to stop partners being excluded from pregnancy, maternity and neonatal services due to COVID-19. Thousands of people took action to raise this with their local hospital and asked their MPs to attend a Parliamentary debate on the issue.

We are very grateful to all the MPs who spoke so openly and honestly about their own experiences – showing us that there are MPs who truly understand how it feels when a pregnancy or baby is lost, and that they will advocate for vital action from Government, even when it is personally challenging.

You can watch the debate on Parliament TV here and read the full transcript here.