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It may seem like a tiny change – the removal of four words in the upcoming Census – but for countless mothers across Australia, it comes freighted with meaning.
This year, women filling out the Census will be asked about stillborn babies for the first time.
In the past, women have been instructed to “include live births only” when recording the number of children they have given birth to.
However, on August 9, (when the country undertakes the Census) this clause will have been removed, allowing women to officially acknowledge their stillborn children for the for the first time. The exclusion of the words “live births only” also raises the possibility that women may choose to include miscarriages – depending on their view of when life begins.
Speaking to ABC radio on Thursday morning, Kristina Keneally, who patron of the Stillbirth Foundation Australia, welcomed the move.
According to the ABC, she felt “angry” at being unable to acknowledge her daughter Caroline, who was stillborn in 2000, in the Census.
She told the radio programme that the change reflects a societal change in the way we approach the topic of stillborn babies. “There’s a growing awareness in the community that children who are born still, who are not born alive, are nonetheless children.”
“They are part of the family, they are given names, they are buried, they are honoured.”
This year it’s expected that most people will fill out the Census online.
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