Having enough time to establish a breastfeeding relationship prior to returning to work represents one of a multitude of reasons why paid family medical leave is an issue central to the health of New Mexican families.

Jody Heymann, the study’s senior author, says it’s clear that if the U.S. implemented a program aligning with the study’s findings, “families would be less likely to fall into poverty, women would have better economic outcomes in terms of their earnings, which contributes to family earnings, and the U.S. would be every bit as able to compete and have as low an unemployment rate.”

When you look at the people who are able to take unpaid leave with the FMLA, more than three-quarters must do so to care for their own health or that of a seriously ill family member. We need a national policy that covers everyone.

Mr. Rubio and Ms. Trump should drop their worries about cost and expand their vision. They could pledge to offer Americans 12 paid weeks off not just for the arrival of a new child, but also if they fall sick or need to care for a family member. They could nix the idea that parents have to pay for their own benefits out of Social Security.

In December 2017, Kate Boone, 26, an account manager with Century Support Services in North Huntingdon, PA — another state without a paid family leave law — had to choose between using the unpaid FMLA leave or continuing to work while taking care of her mother, who has Parkinson’s Disease and broke her hip twice within a month.

[P]erhaps the fact that the LDS Church — "a major employer in the state" — already offers paid parental leave will help move discussions along at the Legislature, said Senate Minority Leader Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City. "The more we see employers instigating this in the private sector," he said, "it only means that the public sector needs to do the same thing."

There are moments when you can almost feel the ground shift beneath you. When then-Sen. Al Gore took to the Senate floor to describe his 6-year-old son Albert's terrifying 1989 accident, it was a pivotal moment not just for the Gore family but also for the country.

Paid leave could provide a key component of caring for Maine’s aging population. By 2030, 28 percent of our population is expected be 65 or older, and almost two-thirds of those are expected to need long-term services and supports.

"It's a public health emergency that we don't offer more support for parents in this country," said Darby Saxbe, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Southern California.

Across our nation, working parents face barriers to staying in the workforce. Lack of access to affordable child care and to paid family, medical and parental leave forces people to choose between taking care of their children or a sick family member and losing their job and their health insurance.