Pregnant people in New York would have 40 hours of paid leave to attend prenatal medical appointments under a new proposal by Gov. Kathy Hochul after the state’s legislative session kicked off this week.
The Democrat’s plan to expand the state’s paid family leave policy, which would need to be approved by the state Legislature, aims to expand access to high-quality prenatal care and prevent maternal and infant deaths in New York, an issue that especially affects low-income and minority communities.
The U.S. infant mortality rate, a measure of how many babies die before they reach their first birthday, is worse than other high-income countries, which experts have attributed to poverty, inadequate prenatal care and other possibilities. The U.S. rate rose 3% in 2022 — the largest increase in two decades, according to a 2023 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This is leave to attend prenatal medical appointments, not vacation time. They don’t schedule those for funsies, it’s to see if you or your fetus might die.
Like, yes, everyone deserves more time off. At the same time, prenatal healthcare in the US is inaccessible for many and it has lifelong or even deadly consequences. Framing this as a “time off” issue instead of an “able to afford access to medical care” issue is missing what’s causing the need for this in the first place.
Do you think pregnant people are the only ones that need to go to the doctor? They could still make it medical only and apply to everyone.
And medical care or vacation, you think the rest of us don’t have to pick up the slack just the same?
The fact is, the US is doing it wrong. Other countries have more generous family leave, but it is a government benefit, not employer-paid. That often lets employers hire temporary replacements regather than be short staffed. Also, they offer ample vacation benefits so everyone else isn’t burnt out.
Do you not understand that pregnancy is a high risk condition (even outside high risk pregnancies, you are already more medically fragile just from pregnancy)?
Why are so you insistent that everyone has to benefit from policies that are aimed at fixing infant and maternal death rates in the US, which I will emphasize again are comparable to developing nations and not industrialized nations?
Why are you crying about “picking up slack” when pregnant people are literally dying due to lack of access to prenatal appointments? I’m sorry but wake the fuck up. This is not a vacation. It’s not a visit to the dentist. If you think it’s more important to make sure everyone is treated the same than it is to address people and infants dying in childbirth then you have your head screwed on backwards.
Do you think pregnancy is the only high-risk condition there is? Screw people with diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, ALS, lupus, Crohn’s disease, schizophrenia, and a litany of other health problems, I guess.
Why are we only worried about infant and maternal deaths and not all deaths?
People are literally dying of cancer and other diseases and don’t get paid time off, either. I never said it was a vacation. And people need more healthcare than just going to the dentist.
Why is it a choice? If everyone gets medical leave, does this not address the issue for women and children as well? Where is this false dichotomy coming from?
Sorry I think equal pay for equal work is such a good concept. Since I am expected to do more work, perhaps men and the childfree should be paid more.
Just say you’re fine with pregnant people and infants dying if you don’t get something out of it and go.
If you don’t understand why this is necessary even if it doesn’t personally benefit you there’s nothing I can do to explain it further. Goodbye.
For many people in North America (but admittedly not all), pregnancy is a choice. If I choose to get elective surgery, should I not also be entitled to time off for the medical appointments?
I never wanted kids but if I could get 40 hours off for having one I would have like 10. /s
Seriously, it’s just 40 hours that most women will use once or twice in their lives and they get it for doing something exhausting, very painful and pretty dangerous. On top of that as society you actually need at least some women to do it. Are people really jealous about 40 hours of leave sprinkled on top of the shit experience that pregnancy is? That’s some new levels of egoism…
There are a ton of exhausting, painful, and dangerous things requiring medical appointments that aren’t pregnancy. All of them should get paid leave. That’s all I mean 😅
Providing incentives to have children, if the society wants to encourage that goal, is another thing entirely. I hadn’t really considered that!
Actually most conditions that are as debilitating as pregnancy would qualify you for sick leave or (if prolongled) disability. At least where I live. I understand sick leave is another issue in USA but denying care to pregnant women doesn’t really solve anything here. In this case they are pretty much saying that even though pregnancy is not a sickness it shout still get people some limited protection.
Pregnancy is often not an intentional choice (nearly 50% of pregnancies in the US are unintended). It’s also something literally necessary for the continuation of society, unlike a tummy tuck.
Also, you don’t take 9 months to recover from elective surgery unless something went wrong. Pregnant people need more appointments for longer than people getting elective surgery, sometimes weekly if the pregnancy becomes high risk.
You’re also already entitled to time off from surgery under the FMLA. This bill EDIT: proposal is for paid time off to go to prenatal appointments. This is because prenatal care in the US is expensive AF, inaccessible to many, and is ultimately a large contributing factor in the US’ maternal and infant mortality rate being far above that of other industrialized nations.
Again, this is not paid time off to sit at home and play video games. This is going to the doctor to make sure you or the fetus don’t die. When people can’t go to these appointments they have miscarriages or die.
Not everything is about giving everyone exactly the same thing so that it feels fair. Sometimes some people need things you don’t.
I had no idea the number was still so high (36% according to this article)! That’ll teach me to comment without research.
So people will call in to the office “I’m pregnant today.” Wish people were more honest but the fakers will ruin it for everyone, and to keep them honest would destroy all patient privacy rights. I agree with the premise of the bill idea, but just sayin’.
That’s not how paid medical leave works. Companies can require you to provide evidence that you saw a doctor, in the form of a note. They can’t require anything more detailed than a doctor confirming they saw you on x date at x time, but you’re not going to be able to fake this without impersonating a doctor.
A lot of employers do exactly that.
Yes you are. Having a job doesn’t mean you have no existence outside of work. Congrats on somehow still sounding like a snark selfish person by JAQing
Sorry! I didn’t mean to come off as a jerk :(
I meant that parents getting paid leave for what I consider to be a choice while non-parents making a similar choice not getting time off seems unfair to me. I’m totally in favor of time off for medical stuff, elective or not!