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.
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.