Berlin. Like Maria Kountoures in her prime pregnancy she had a miscarriage, her world fell apart. But the then 31-year-old didn’t have much time to mourn. Her doctor fired her due to illness for two weeks, after which she returned to her employer. “I actually would have needed more time to process the miscarriage physically and mentally,” Maria says.
But because she was working as an IT consultant in a male-dominated environment at the time, she worried that extended sick leave could have negative consequences. Also, she would have to go to her doctor again and she would be addicted to him having a illness certificate deemed necessary. So Maria recovered and just “worked,” as she puts it.
After a miscarriage: Sick leave for two weeks only
A few years later, after the birth of her first daughter, Maria miscarried again. This time in the twelfth week of pregnancy. She again she was only given sick leave for two weeks, she again she actually needed more time, she says. Also, she had to go to the family doctor because she didn’t get the hospital certificate.
“I just wish I had been spared. After a miscarriage you are already so sensitive, you shouldn’t go to the doctors,” says Maria. “Besides, it shouldn’t be a matter of luck whether and for how long sick leave want. Women should have the right to be protected after a miscarriage.”
Petition for phased maternity protection after miscarriage receives 75,000 signatures
This is exactly what Natascha Sagorski is fighting for. The 38-year-old is asking for graduate maternity leave after miscarriages. So far, German law requires pregnant women before the 24th week of pregnancy maladministration they are not entitled to maternity leave, after which they are.
“If I get a cardiac arrest diagnosis on the last day of week 23, I get zero days Maternity protection. If I go to the same office 24 hours later and get the same diagnosis, I’m entitled to 18 weeks. It’s obvious that this can’t be right,” says the author. That’s why the 38-year-old started a petition for staggered maternity leave this summer.
With it, women should be able to receive maternity leave before the sixth month, depending week of pregnancy for a different period of time. A total of 75,000 signatures were collected, enough for the petition to now have to be discussed in the Bundestag’s Petitions Committee.
Here’s why Natascha Sagorski is fighting for graduate maternity leave after miscarriages
The trigger for Sagorski’s engagement was her own miscarriage in 2019 Hospital a doctor told her she didn’t need sick leave and could go back to work the next day, she says. “I was so vulnerable at the time that I didn’t really question it,” she says. Read also: Family Minister Paus sets date for “paternity leave”
But then she started researching her book Every Third Woman, which also deals with the subject of miscarriage, and found that many women had been through similar situations. “That’s when I realized this seemed to be a structural problem.” Eventually, she came up with the idea of graduate maternity leave. “It’s a concept that’s been around for a long time,” says the political scientist. “And then I wondered why we were doing this Germany I don’t have it.” So he started the petition and founded an association to address the issue.
Fight to break the taboo on miscarriages
Graduate maternity leave should Women offer simple protection after the miscarriage and give them time to process the experiences, without having to fight for this time. At the same time, and this is especially important for Sagorski, maternity leave should be voluntary. “The most important thing is that women are offered protection if they want to, but of course they don’t have to. Dealing with a miscarriage is a very individual process,” he explains. For Sagorski, the petition is also a big step toward removing the taboo on miscarriages. It goes hand in hand,” he says.
“We need better education on the subject in general. If everyone knew right upfront how common miscarriages actually are, then women wouldn’t feel so alone at first.” Women after abortions are often quiet and silent – not least because the topic unfortunately still involves a lot shame be afflicted. “These women don’t have a lobby and they don’t have a loud voice, so I found it incredibly unfair that women’s rights weren’t being considered.”
Even if the petition is now ongoing petitions committee is under discussion and a Bundestag expert committee will deal with the matter next year, Sagorski went one step further. In the summer, he contacted Berlin lawyer Remo Klinger, who represented the complainants in last year’s groundbreaking constitutional complaint on climate protection. Of the Lawyer it examined the law and finally came to the conclusion in its legal opinion that the current maternity leave regulation is unconstitutional.
Lack of maternity protection: Women file a constitutional complaint in Karlsruhe
“We have a protection gap between those who lose a child after the 23rd week of pregnancy and those who lose it earlier,” explains Klinger. According to Article 6 paragraph 4 of the Basic Law, the mother is also entitled to protection in the event of the loss of a child. “Even the legislator recognized this by imposing a Protection against dismissal granted and thus expresses in the legislation that even now women need protection, both psychologically and physiologically,” says Klinger.
However, if dismissal protection is granted, maternity leave should also be granted, according to the lawyer. In November, Natascha Sagorski filed a complaint with four of her fellow activists Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. It is not yet clear whether this will be successful. However, Klinger offers her a good chance. However, she says, well over 90% of complaints in Karlsruhe are not accepted for decision.
“When we say the odds are good, we mean they’re significantly better than 10 percent.” However, it could still be some time before the judges make a decision — experience has shown that it could take anywhere from one to one and a half years, Klinger says. Natascha Sagorski knows this too. That’s why he doesn’t rely on it, but keeps fighting. “Of course it would be nice if before the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court Law she is being moved to staggered maternity leave,” she says. “Our big goal is to have a bill in 2023.”
