MP’s words add to debate

Sharon Hodgson’s heartrending account of the loss of her baby daughter is a moving reminder that our elected members of Parliament are human too.

In the cut and thrust of political discourse, where insults are liberally given and received, it’s too easy to view MPs on all sides as unfeeling talking heads. They’re not. As she revealed in an interview on This Morning, speaking in last week’s debate was, for her, “the hardest thing ever.”

We commend her bravery in sharing her story.

To those who have not gone through the trauma of losing a child, it is hard to appreciate the need for change.

The black and white wording seems adequate enough. Babies stillborn before 24 weeks do not receive a birth or death certificate. Without the emotional context, it’s hard to appreciate what all the fuss is about.

Sharon Hodgson’s searingly honest account of losing her baby daughter Lucy puts the argument into perspective.

She revealed how, even though she had held her daughter, who was in a babygro and wearing a little hat, the girl officially did not, and had never, existed.

It was too much for her to bear.

What adds to the debate is that the pain of the whole episode actually dissuaded her from speaking earlier. It was 20 years after the death of her baby, that she found the courage to speak up.

Whether is sways the argument towards getting the formal recordings changed is neither here nor there. What matters is the debate is better for her moving input.

Politics without passion or emotion is not politics at all.