This month, advocacy groups Moms Rising and Paid Leave for All delivered a petition with over 55,000 signatures to every member of Congress urging for a federal law safeguarding paid family leave. This petition is part of a larger movement advocating for paid leave at both state and federal levels.
Scripps News has been monitoring the state-level initiative in New York led by mothers advocating for change. In many states, including New York, mothers who experience stillbirth may have their preapproved paid family leave revoked, which is currently legal. Legislation has been introduced over the past two years to address this legal loophole, but this summer, the legislative progress halted just before completion.
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“This compromise bill would not only be monumental for stillbirth parents, but it would be for so many others to include cancer patients and people who suffer from serious illnesses like MS,” said Cassidy Perrone, a mother who delivered her daughter, Olivia, stillborn.
Perrone had her paid family leave revoked. According to New York state law, she did not need leave because her baby had died. She has spent the last two years advocating to legally protect paid family leave for mothers of stillborn babies, in hopes of leading to federal paid leave for all parents. This movement has gained momentum as more people become aware of their state’s legal loopholes.
“It is hard for us to relive this every single time that we talk to a Senator or a Congressman, or the Governor’s office, we relive that trauma,” Perrone said. “But, that is the only way that change is going to occur.”
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Perrone is collaborating with advocates like Samantha Banerjee, the executive director of PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy, to push for the passage of this year’s bill. On the final day of the 2024 legislative session, after passing the state Senate, Perrone mentioned that the bill was suddenly removed from the Assembly’s agenda.
“To say that it was devastating is an understatement,” said Perrone. “It truly brought me back to the day that my paid family leave was revoked from me. I felt like it completely re-traumatized me because I had been promised something yet again by New York, and it was the right thing to do. And they took it away yet again.”
Now, Perrone, Banerjee, and others are striving to reintroduce the bill to state legislators before the year’s end.
If passed, Banerjee hopes that this law could serve as a model for a national standard. “What is happening in New York is setting the stage for what’s going to be going on nationally,” Banerjee mentioned.
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The United States is one of seven countries globally that does not have any guaranteed form of paid maternity leave at the federal level. The U.S. Department of Labor found that only 27% of private sector U.S. workers had access to paid family leave through their employer. Additionally, 95% of low-wage workers, predominantly women and workers of color, have no access to paid family leave.
“Black moms are, you know, three to four times more likely to lose their lives as a result of pregnancy or childbirth. Sixty percent of those deaths are happening in the postpartum period, and two-thirds of those are in those critical first six weeks after giving birth. So, this is literally putting mothers’ lives at stake,” said Banerjee.
As of today, 13 states have enacted paid family and medical leave laws. Critics argue that these policies can be costly and impose a heavy burden on businesses, but Perrone stated that it goes beyond policy. “We need to show as a country that women are valued,” said Perrone.
“Whether you are lucky enough to come out of your pregnancy with your baby in your arms or not, every person who gives birth deserves that time to heal their bodies. And anything less than that is simply cruel and unusual,” said Banerjee.
For more information on PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy and its advocacy work, click HERE.
