Women in the workplace who’ve experienced miscarriage and fertility treatments have suffered in silence, for "far too long", according to the Labour Party.
It’s seeking to fast track legislation that would grant women up to 20 days reproductive leave, to recover from early miscarriage.
More than one in five pregnancies in Ireland end in miscarriage.
Currently women who experience pregnancy loss before the 24 week mark aren’t entitled to any paid leave.
Broadcaster Rebecca Horan had a series of miscarriages in 2019 but returned to work quckly, as she said she wanted a distraction. She said paid leave would have made a huger difference:
"If you don't deal with grief, it all builds up anyway. It would've been far better for me to take a number of weeks off and deal with it head-on."
This legislation will also grant up to 10 days paid leave for women receiving fertility treatments.
Senator Marie Sherlock underwent IVF and she says flexibility is important:
"It requires many visits back and forth to the clinic, and if someone is working in a job and they're left taking annual leave or taking sick leave. But they're not sick."
But head of AIMs Krysia Lynch says many women are afraid they’ll be othered, if they ask their bosses for unpaid leave:
"You're now going to reveal you're planning to start a family - then people aren't going to look to you for a promotion."
