‘Momentous’ miscarriage law reforms hailed by campaigner as she thanks GB News: ‘Been at my side since the start’

A campaigning solicitor has hailed a proposed change in the law – which will give two weeks paid leave to parents who lose a baby.

Keeley Lengthorn said reforms – that will see expectant parents who suffer a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy – granted a right to bereavement leave were “momentous”.

Keeley has spent years using her George’s Law campaign to tirelessly crusade on behalf of parents forced back to work after losing a child.

Under current archaic legislation, parents are not entitled to any paid time off work if they lose a baby under 24 weeks gestation.

But now thanks to an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill will allow two weeks leave for those who suffer a pregnancy loss before 24 weeks gestation.

The announcement comes three years after the death of Keeley’s son George, who was born at 22 and half weeks on 3rd March 2022.

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Keeley, family partner at RWK Goodman also suffered two miscarriages before George’s death, and said it was “particularly poignant” the announcement had come three years to the day of her son’s passing.

She also praised GB News – who have supported her campaign from the very beginning.

Keeley told GB News: “It all started back in 2022 shortly after I lost George. I met you shortly after, started the campaign, and Monday evening will go down in history – George’s third birthday and being told that it’s going to finally be law.

“Currently the law says if you lose a baby over 24 weeks, you get two weeks paid leave. So, the same will now apply if you lose a baby under 24 weeks, so from zero to 24.

“If you think I had a 12-hour labour with George, I bathed him, I left him at the mortuary, but the law says that I should be, as a lawyer, back at work the next day. It’s so archaic.

“It’s like something out of the Handmaid’s Tale. I can’t believe it’s not been law until now, but it looks like this is the closest we’ve got.

“We’ve got victory, and it will help 250,000 families per year.” She added: “It happens to one in five of us. You’re always going to know someone, if it’s not in your work environment, if it’s in real life, you’re always going to know someone, unfortunately, who’s lost the baby.

“Despite the fact that this is coming into play, I think there is still a training need. There is still a need to do training and for people to understand what to say to someone when they’ve lost a baby.

“Like, for instance, I still remember the comments that were made that were inappropriate to me when I lost George. “I’ve developed a national training program where you can go and train and learn about what to say to someone when you get that WhatsApp message.

“Things like, ‘oh, well, at least IVF worked first time’, or ‘at least you can have another baby’, really inappropriate things. You’d be really surprised.

“When I left George, I promised him that this wouldn’t be for nothing and that I would create a legacy for him, and it’s actually written on his plaque in the crematorium, that his tiny footprints would make a big legacy.

“I had to do that. I channelled my grief into the campaign to make sure that no one suffers in silence, and that George gives people a voice, because I can’t have had all this misery for nothing.

“He needs to have had a voice, which he has done. He will have helped 250,000 families a year, both men and women, it will count for both parents.

“Because a woman goes through the physical pain of labour, men are often forgotten. But I think it’s really, really important that men are not forgotten, that men have a voice.

“We talk about men’s mental health all the time, and again, this comes to the forefront of that.”

She said George’s birthday was on Monday: “We went by the water, which is where I feel closest to George, and then came home and got the message that this has happened and we’ve got a victory.

“There’s been lots of tears. It’s been a very emotional week, to say the least, but the fact that it came on George’s birthday, the announcement is something that I’m still coming to terms with. “Actually, it’s very overwhelming. Good tears, amazing tears. It’s a massive sign from George just to say, ‘Mum, you did it’.”

Commenting on GB News’ support she added: “I can’t thank GB News enough. You’ve been at my side from the start and, in the end, we won and delivered something which will help so many people..”