Baby Loss

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 13th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

First, I commend all Members who have told their personal stories and shared with us how their life has been touched by what has happened to them, and how they have tried to move on. I think of my mother Mona, who is 94 years of age and has suffered many miscarriages. My speech writer Naomi—obviously a very busy lady—had a miscarriage as well. We all have personal stories of this, whether through our family, extended family or those we live with.

In 2023 in Northern Ireland, there were 67 stillbirths and 80 infant deaths registered, and for those mums and dads, my heart simply aches. I pay tribute to the friends and families, charities such as Sands, and so many others who rally around those going through the unimaginable. The support they provide is phenomenal and life changing, and that must be placed on record.

I also highlight the tremendous decision to help those who are in the early stages of grieving a loss by making available a baby loss certificate. A certificate does not mean less pain by any stretch of the imagination, but it does provide validation; it says that a wee life existed, was here and was real, and that it is okay to grieve for that wee life and the promise and hope for tomorrow that has passed. In Northern Ireland, we do not yet have those certificates, but my hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) called for them in the House just last year.

Whether a loss is felt in the fifth week, the 15th week or the magical 25th week, the fact remains that it is a loss. While some are able to put their words into a song or a poem, and others release grief with the planting of a tree that they can watch grow, and that shows them the passage of time, others choose never to speak of it—and all of these are valid. I often think of a very special constituent of mine who came to me some 45 years after she had lost a baby and asked me how to find where the remains had been buried. The hon. Member for Corby and East Northamptonshire (Lee Barron) referred to things happening in his constituency; some of the things that happened in Belfast over those years would also pose many questions.

I wish to recall the story of that lady. She was part of the “don’t talk about it” generation, yet for all those years, she carried that grief, and wanted to know where her baby boy was resting. The baby had been taken from her, and she was not given the option to bury him. While we both believed sincerely that he was safe in the arms of Jesus, she wanted to know where he was on this earth. This is a subject to which the hon. Member for Corby and East Northamptonshire referred. Agnes passed before I could find out which of the unmarked baby graves he was in, but I take great comfort in knowing that she has finally met him in glory now.

I tell the story of Agnes because it shows the lifelong grief that can be felt. I believe that this debate, and the ones like it held every year, are not simply about what must be done; they are a way to tell the Agneses of this world, who grieved in silence, that they are not alone. Each life is so precious, and the loss must be acknowledged and felt. On behalf of the mums and dads of my constituency of Strangford and across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, we honour those little lives, and the indelible little footprints left on hearts throughout the United Kingdom. You were here, you mattered, you were loved, and you are not forgotten.