Legal background Report on registration of pregnancy loss
The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 ("the 1953 Act"), together with regulations made under that Act, set the legal framework for the registration of births. Section 1 of the 1953 Act requires every child born in England and Wales to be registered. Section 11 makes special provision about registration of stillbirths. The definition of "stillborn child" is in section 41 of the 1953 Act and provides as follows:
	"stillborn child" means a child which has issued forth from its mother after the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy and which did not at any time after being completely expelled from its mother breathe or show any other signs of life, and the expression "stillbirth" shall be construed accordingly.