After the 18th week

Entitlement to a midwife in the event of a miscarriage is coming

Women who suffer a miscarriage after the 18th week of pregnancy will be entitled to support from a midwife from September 1st. An amendment to this effect was passed by the National Council in June.

If a child weighing 500 grams or more is born lifeless, it is legally a stillbirth. In these cases, there was already an entitlement to a midwife. "We have worked intensively over the past few weeks to implement the new regulation in practice for the benefit of all those affected and involved," said Gerlinde Feichtlbauer, President of the Austrian Midwifery Association (ÖHG) in a press release on Thursday.

Own search term added
In future, those affected will be able to contact a midwife unbureaucratically. A search term "care after miscarriage and stillbirth" has been added to the midwife search on the ÖHG website for this purpose.

According to its own statement, the committee has already submitted further requests to the Chancellery, such as psychological or psychotherapeutic support and adequate time for women to grieve after a pregnancy loss. The Federal Chancellery has already set up a corresponding working group, it said. In Austria, every midwife is automatically a member of the committee.