paid-leave-is-essential-for-healthy-moms-and-babies.pdf -...

ABOUT THE SERIES:
Our maternity care system often fails to provide equitable, respectful, culturally centered, safe, effective, and affordable
care. It spectacularly fails communities struggling with the burden of structural racism and other forms of inequity,
including: Black, Indigenous , and other People of Color (BIPOC); rural communities; and people with low incomes.
The multiple crises of the COVID pandemic, economic downturn, and national reckoning on racism have underscored
the need to address the social influencers of health. This series identifies ways to improve maternal and infant health by
tackling some of these factors. Topics were chosen based on importance and urgency, and availability
of systematic reviews and complementary research.
THE PROBLEM: THE LACK OF NATIONAL PAID LEAVE COMPROMISES THE
HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF PREGNANT PEOPLE AND THEIR INFANTS
The United States is one of just a few countries in the world with no national paid leave of any kind. This federal
policy failure leaves more than 100 million people – 80 percent of U.S. workers – without paid time off after the
birth or adoption of a child.
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Nearly half of workers (46 percent) are not even guaranteed unpaid, job-protected
leave through the Family and Medical Leave Act.² Further, about one in 14 workers each year needs leave but does
not take it, most often because they cannot afford to take unpaid leave.³
Paid time off is necessary for many reasons. Pregnant and parenting people † need time to recover after pregnancy
and birth, care for and bond with a newborn (including, for most, to establish breastfeeding), adjust to changing
family dynamics, and obtain postpartum and well-child care. Moreover, the need for paid leave includes people
who are recovering from stillbirth, miscarriage, and other pregnancy complications. Paid leave is also critical for
three out of four people who take leave each year for reasons other than maternity or paternity care.
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Other reasons
include caring for other family members or addressing their own serious health conditions.
The COVID-19 pandemic presents many additional challenges for pregnant and parenting people, making the need
for paid leave even more essential. This is a time when many are being forced to make difficult decisions about
returning to work to support their families, potentially exposing themselves, their infants, and loved ones to the
harmful and sometimes deadly virus.
† We recognize and respect that pregnant, birthing, postpartum, and parenting people have a range of gender identities, and do not always identify as “women” or
“mothers.” In recognition of the diversity of identities, this series prioritizes the use of non-gendered language where possible.
M O M S & B A B I E S S E R I E S
PAID LEAVE IS ESSENTIAL FOR HEALTHY
MOMS AND BABIES
S A R A H C O O M B S
A U T H O R
MOMS BABIES
&
PAID LEAVE
National Partnership for Women & Families
National Birth Equity Collaborative
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