AG Wilson issues opinion on stillbirths, paid leave

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)– South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson says South Carolina’s paid parental leave law should include stillbirths.

The opinion was issued in response to a request from State Representative Neal Collins, who raised concerns that some teachers and state employees were being denied the benefit following a stillbirth, despite going through the same major medical event as parents of children born alive.

In his opinion Wilson writes in part, “based on the text of the law and longstanding South Carolina precedent recognizing unborn children as ‘persons,’ it is our view that the General Assembly intended for the term ‘birth’ to include stillbirths To interpret the law otherwise would lead to an absurd and unjust result.”