New regulation on June 1st: Maternity protection now also possible after miscarriage

Anyone who suffers a miscarriage from the 13th week of pregnancy is now entitled to maternity leave. But what does that mean specifically? And how many women affects the new regulation? Here are the most important questions and answers.

How has maternity leave so far regulated?

The Maternity Protection Act applies particularly to a child, especially in time before and after the delivery of a child. The protection periods basically start six weeks before childbirth and usually end eight weeks later. As a rule, women do not work in their profession. During the protection periods, you are entitled to maternity benefits that replace full wages before pregnancy.

What has been on miscarriages so far?

From a medical point of view, the early end of a pregnancy up to the 24th week of pregnancy is a miscarriage. Up to now, those affected were dependent on a sick leave. So far, in the event of miscarriage, neither a maternity protection period nor benefits under the Maternity Protection Act were planned. These only grabbed when pregnant women lost their child from the 24th week.

What does it change?

The new law provides for a graduation – that is, the further pregnancy has progressed, the longer the maternity protection period is in the event of miscarriage. In the event of a miscarriage from the 13th week, maternity leave is planned for two weeks, from the 17th week of pregnancy for six weeks. If it only occurs from the 20th week, in a very advanced pregnancy stage, the miscarriage, then women can take a professional break for eight weeks in the future. In these times you are also entitled to wage replacement. For miscarriages up to the 12th week, no maternity protection is still provided.

Do affected women have to pause professionally in the future?

No. If a woman expressly agreed to work despite a miscarriage from the 13th week and not want to use the new maternity protection period, this is possible according to the new law.

What applies to the self -employed?

The new regulation also applies to women who are self -employed and insured by law. Soldings will also be able to rely on a maternity protection period in the event of a miscarriage from the 13th week of pregnancy.

However, the self -employed who are privately insured are excluded. This could change with the new federal government: According to its coalition agreement, the Union and SPD also want to expand the statutory maternity protection services to the self -employed.

So far, self -employed women who expect a child have generally no legal entitlement to maternity leave – unless they are legally insured. Federal Minister of Women Karin Prien (CDU) emphasized that it was important to her to also take a look at changes in regulations for the self -employed. However, it is unclear for exactly when a new regulation is sought here.

How many women benefit from the new regulation?

That is also not entirely clear. According to the Family Ministry, neither the number of women who have used maternity protection in recent years, nor are there official statistics on the number of those who suffer a miscarriage. Experts assume that every third woman in Germany is affected by miscarriage.

Referring to research by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology (FIT), the Ministry of Family estimates that around 90,000 pregnancies end with miscarriages annually. About 6,000 therefore occur between the 13th and 24th week of pregnancy. Most of the miscarriages, 84,000, suffer women up to the 12th week of pregnancy. In these cases, no maternity protection is still provided.