Uma has a name. And he has it even if the law denies it. It existed and exists for its parents. She was born dead, did not get to see the light, her mother could not hug her, her father carries his fingerprints tattooed on his arm forever. But Uma, for the Civil Registry, is only the female fetus of Jillian Cassidy. The dead babies are entitled to their name although so far it has been denied.
The death of a baby, whether born without life or surviving, is a devastating experience for his parents. I can't find words to explain the pain, loss, bewilderment and anguish they suffer. And his children existed. Although, today, they can only receive their name legally and be registered as individuals if they have survived at least 24 hours outside the mother's womb.
To overcome this immeasurable pain, although there is no way to do it at all, the experience of grief is very important. Experts advise being able to see and touch the baby, say goodbye to him, as we would do for a child who had lived. And it is good to put their name and remember them with him. Do not deny that they existed, do not erase or ignore them. Doing that will not change the void they have left. Therefore babies born dead are entitled to their name and Uma's parents are struggling to get it.
"Only the fetus that has a human figure and lives twenty-four hours entirely detached from the mother's womb will be considered born," says Article 30 of the Spanish Civil Code. However, the law provides that if a woman loses her child after six months of gestation, she is entitled to her maternity leave, so even if the child has not lived, she is considered a mother.
The Senate approved on February 11, 2009 to change this article of the Civil Code and allow parents who wish to register their children born without life. The vote was not unanimous, it had 123 votes in favor and 120 against. This March the proposal will come to Congress and what is decided in the commission that is created will determine if the parents will have legal right to name to these babies, to put their name on their tombstone and to have these children recognized as people who lived.
The parents of Uma have taken this claim as their own, in the name of their little daughter. And in addition to its page, Umamanita, of which we already talked to you in Babies and more on another occasion, they have opened on Facebook a platform called HUELLAS, in support of the Perinatal and Neonatal Death Registry.
The FOOTPRINTS platform Its objectives are that parents who wish to register their deceased child even if they have not lived more than 24 hours outside the mother's womb, support families and sensitize society to work perinatal and neonatal death.
Dead born children existed. They have the right to their name, to be recognized as real, to be dismissed with dignity. That's why I want to encourage you to join Jillian and Juan in their fight. By Uma, who has a name.
