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 protecting paid family leave. This petition is part of a larger movement advocating for paid leave at the state level.
Scripps News has been closely monitoring the state-level efforts in New York led by mothers fighting for change. In several states, including New York, mothers who experience a stillbirth often have their preapproved paid family leave revoked, which is currently legal. In the past two years, legislation has been introduced to address this loophole, but this summer, the legislative progress came to a halt just before the finish line.
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“This compromise bill would not only be monumental for stillbirth parents, but it would be for so many others including cancer patients and individuals with serious illnesses like MS,” stated Cassidy Perrone, a mother who gave birth to a stillborn daughter named Olivia.
Perrone had her paid family leave revoked under New York state law, which deemed she did not require leave because her baby had passed away. She has been fighting for the past two years to legally protect paid family leave for mothers of stillborn babies, with the hope of achieving federal paid leave for all parents. This movement has gained traction as more individuals become aware of the legal loopholes in their own states.
“It is emotionally challenging for us to revisit this every time we engage with a Senator or a Congressman, or the Governor’s office; we relive that trauma,” Perrone expressed. “But, that is the only way that change is going to happen.”
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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 clearing the state Senate, Perrone revealed that New York’s Assembly Speaker suddenly removed the bill from the agenda.
“The devastation was beyond words,” Perrone expressed. “It felt like a setback to the day when my paid family leave was taken away from me. It felt like a complete retraumatization because once again, I was promised something by New York, and it was the right thing to do. And again, it was taken away.”
Presently, Perrone, Banerjee, and others are striving to get the bill back in front of state legislators before the year concludes.
If passed, Banerjee hopes that the legislation could serve as a model for a nationwide approach. “What’s unfolding in New York is laying the foundation for a national movement,” Banerjee mentioned.
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The United States is one of seven countries globally that lacks a guaranteed form of paid maternity leave at the federal level. The U.S. Department of Labor discovered that only 27% of private sector U.S. employees had access to paid family leave through their employer. Among the lowest wage workers, primarily women and workers of color, 95% lack 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 happen during the postpartum period, and two-thirds of them occur in the crucial first six weeks after delivery. This situation jeopardizes mothers’ lives,” Banerjee emphasized.
Currently, 13 states have implemented paid family and medical leave laws. Opponents of these policies argue that they may be costly and place undue burden on businesses, however, Perrone believes it transcends policy. “As a nation, we must demonstrate that women are valued,” Perrone expressed.
“Regardless of whether you come out of your pregnancy with your baby in your arms or not, every individual who gives birth deserves that time to heal their bodies. Anything less is simply inhumane,” concludes Banerjee.
For more information on PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy and its advocacy initiatives, click HERE.
