Paid parental leave is good for children, too

Gov. Kay Ivey has signed into law a bill granting paid parental leave to state employees and public school K-12 teachers. This is a huge win for state employees, who will no longer need to scramble to cover the cost of unpaid leave in order to recover from birth and care for their newborn babies.

The lawmakers who championed the bill have spoken about benefits including increasing competitiveness with other states and the private sector, and reducing financial strain on covered parents and families while caring for a newborn. However, the benefits of paid parental leave stretch far beyond these.

Paid parental leave leads to lower infant and child mortality, fewer re-hospitalizations for infants and mothers, improved maternal mental health, higher breastfeeding rates and more extended duration, a decrease in intimate partner violence, and improved outcomes for children throughout their lifespan from improved infant attachment and child development, all the way to increased education and future wage growth as adults.

In a state that ranks third highest in maternal mortality and has a rising infant death rate that consistently exceeds the national average, any intervention that could improve the health of mothers and babies in our state should be a top priority.

The Legislature has signaled its interest in addressing Alabama’s abysmal infant and maternal mortality rates with other bills this session, including one approving presumptive Medicaid coverage for pregnant people to encourage early prenatal care and one focused on postpartum depression education and screening.

Paid maternity and paternity leave for state employees is an excellent next step in the fight to keep Alabama mothers and infants healthy, but the Legislature need not stop there.

Fourteen other states already have mandatory statewide paid family and medical leave laws, which typically provide six to 12 weeks of paid leave for new parents. If fears about negative effects on businesses are stopping our lawmakers from following suit, they can rest easy. Some of these policies have been in place for over a decade and have been found to be business-friendly, resulting in lower turnover and improved employee retention, higher productivity, and higher worker morale.

The majority of Fortune 500 companies,; over three-quarters of the top 20 hospitals in the nation,; tech giants like Google, and the military have already recognized what is slowly beginning to dawn on Alabama’s lawmakers: Ppaid parental leave is good for business, good for families, and good for society.

I applaud Gov. Ivey and the legislature for granting paid parental leave to Alabama’s teachers and state employees. But the next step — paid parental leave for all Alabama families — still awaits action.