Miscarriages now receive formal recognition by NSW Government.

From this month, the NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages will provide an optional “recognition of loss” certificate for women who miscarry before 20 weeks.

Unlike stillbirths (pregancies lost after five months), miscarriages have never been recognised formally by the government. This is despite the fact that one in four pregnancies in NSW end in miscarriage.

The NSW Attorney General Brad Hazzard told the SMH that he hopes the move will help grieving parents, at least in some small way.

“Families who experience the loss of a baby early in pregnancy have a difficult grieving process and often feel that their loss isn’t recognised,” he said

The certificate will not be a legal document, but rather a recognition of a loss felt by the family.

How to talk to someone who has had a miscarriage.

Pro-choice campaigners are comfortable with the change as it acknowledges a family’s grief without threatening broader reproductive rights.

Co-president of Reproductive Choice Australia, Jenny Ejlak told the SMH: “It sounds like a good idea without putting any risks in place that could criminalise any behaviour by pregnant woman.”

The certificate is available through the NSW Births Deaths and Marriages website and parents can choose whether to include a name on the certificate or simply to choose to write “baby of” the parents’ names.

You can apply for a certificate if your loss occurred before 20 weeks, or if weeks are unknown, your baby weighed less than 400g. It only applies to losses in NSW.

 How a devastating miscarriage changed this dad forever.

Application is through the website where you fill out the form, print it out, take it to your health professional to sign and then lodge it online, by post or in person with Births Deaths and Marriages. The certificate is free of charge.