Published on
Updated
Reading 2 mins.
This is great news for women. Those who have experienced a miscarriage will be able to benefit from sick leave without a waiting day and from appropriate psychological care.
Following a miscarriage, few women benefit from psychological support. And yet: this terrible ordeal leaves traces. Faced with this observation, MP Sandrine Josso and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne mobilized.
Miscarriage: “Psychological support may be necessary”
About one in ten women has had or will have a miscarriage in her lifetime.
A drama (defined in France, by a spontaneous termination of pregnancy before the 22nd week of amenorrhea, date of viability of the fetus) far from being isolated, and yet still too trivialized.
But France will soon catch up: MoDem MP Sandrine Josso has tabled a bill to promote psychological support for these bereaved women.
“Beyond the associated physical symptoms (bleeding, pain) and the essential medical support, psychological support may be necessary to enable women who have had their pregnancy terminated to cope with the double loss represented by the loss of of the embryo or fetus and the symbolic loss of the realization of the desire for a child“, details the proposal.
This step is all the more necessary given the distress experienced by these women.
Following a miscarriage, nearly one in three women would indeed suffer “post-traumatic stress, with symptoms of reliving, avoidance and neurovegetative hypervigilance that can last, for one in six people, for up to nine months”reveals a study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Sick leave “without a waiting day”
For her part, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced the lifting of the waiting days in the event of a miscarriage.
Concretely, French women will be able to stop working for the time necessary to recover physically and psychologically from this ordeal, in agreement with their doctor and without deduction from salary.
Indeed, currently, the first three days of sick leave are not paid.
This device has a price – eight million euros – but it will make it possible to recognize this intimate mourning, too often passed over in silence.
The measure will come into force no later than January 1, 2024.
“We trivialize this drama too much”
Faced with these announcements, Lucie Joly, psychiatrist specializing in perinatality, is enthusiastic.
“This is great news. And for good reason: this intimate drama is trivialized far too much and in practice, bereaved patients are rarely referred to a psychologist or psychiatrist. Regarding the proposed law to promote psychological support for women, if it is obvious that this support will help women in their grieving process, it must be accompanied by human resources. Because at the hospital, we are already overwhelmed.”