Paid parental leave makes families, society stronger
Pediatricians know that safe, stable and nurturing relationships are biological necessities for all children so they can proactively manage stress responses and build resilience.
Despite this need for parents to participate and nurture their babies, there is a motherhood penalty in our country. Without sufficient economic resources, many mothers have to return to the workplace soon after giving birth, preventing them from recovering from delivery or breastfeeding their baby.
There is a solution for these challenges: paid parental leave for parents to care for and connect with their newborn babies.
High-quality research shows that this critical bonding period improves the health of mothers and children, and even increases their future earnings. Yet 72% of working Texans do not have paid family leave, despite the policy’s known benefits. Expanding access to paid family leave would help secure prosperity for Texas families and ensure that parents can care for newborn babies without fear of losing their livelihood.
Recognizing the importance of women and mothers in our society and workforce should not be limited to Mother’s Day. A century ago, women accounted for 20% of the workforce, mostly in domestic and personal service, clerical occupations and teaching. Today, Texas women account for 58.5% of the state’s labor force.
Despite decades of progress, the modern workforce has not adapted to mothers. Nationally, the rate for women in the workforce with children younger than 6 is 67.4%; for children younger than 3, it is 65.6%.
Providing paid parental leave is good for our workforce, supports affordable child care and reflects our shared value for working mothers.
I strongly urge the Texas Legislature to discuss a paid parental leave program in advance of the next legislative session.
In addition to providing health benefits for parents and children, a paid parental leave policy can be part of the solution to the state’s growing child care crisis.
The Legislature repeatedly calls on doctors and public health experts to examine challenges to childhood development, healthy families and reducing maternal mortality — and we have developed policies to address these challenges appropriately. It is time for our state’s lawmakers to pass them.
In my professional experience practicing neonatal medicine and working with thousands of families, I believe the most effective tool would be a guarantee of 12 weeks of paid leave for new parents — a policy also supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the Texas Medical Association.
During the 88th Texas Legislature, there was bipartisan support for paid parental leave: the passage of Senate Bill 222, providing paid parental leave for certain state employees, and bipartisan coauthors for HB2604, which would create a state-administered fund for private sector employees. Some state employees now can take eight weeks of paid leave if they are the mother and four weeks if they are the non-birthing parent.
We can better advance the prosperity of Texas families by expanding this policy to all working parents.
As a mother of three amazing adult children, a grandmother to four adorable grandchildren and a doctor for tens of thousands of Texas babies, I urge the Legislature to consider this critical policy as an interim charge — for the health and futures of Texas families.