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Paying those bills can be challenging for working women who had been counting on parental leave after giving birth.
The United States does not have a standard parental leave policy, which means some may find their company doesn’t offer paid time off for a miscarriage, said Jeff Hayes, a program director at the Washington-based Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
Federal law requires most large companies to grant unpaid time off for serious medical conditions, and a miscarriage or stillbirth would certainly count as such. But about 40 percent of the workforce is employed by a company that isn’t subject to the law, which leaves lots of women, Collier included, in a tough position.