Since this month, the UK government has been able to send mothers condolences for the deaths of children whom it would have been perfectly happy to allow to be killed in different circumstances.
This situation has been created by the expansion of the government’s baby loss certificate scheme, which was launched back in February. It allowed mothers who, since 2018, have experienced a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy, to receive ‘a certificate in memory of your baby’. Miscarriages after this point are registered as stillbirths. Last week, the scheme expanded to include all miscarriages prior to 2018.
If personhood can be conferred or defined then it can be withdrawn or redefined – a chilling thought
On its own terms I think the scheme is very welcome. I was moved to tears by the Today programme as listeners said how, after only hearing of the scheme that morning, they had registered losses mourned for decades. And yet I shook my head in bafflement as I considered how utterly incoherent the baby loss certificate scheme is when considered alongside the UK’s abortion laws.
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