Why isn't guaranteed maternity leave a "pro-life" imperative?

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If States pay for it, at least it will be fair. A person in Nebraska shouldn’t be paying the wage of someone in CA or NY.
 
Also, I think this would impact private businesses adversely like you mentioned and the public sector would grow.
 
Exactly! In addition to viewing it from an economic standpoint, one can argue for the positive emotional, social, and psychological benefits of paid maternity leave. So many moms say they would prefer to stay home with their children for at least the earliest years of their children’s lives if they could afford to do so.
 
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But remember, FMLA only applies to employees that work for companies of a certain size (the same is true of protections against pregnancy discrimination).

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This means that many Americans aren’t covered by FMLA and many aren’t federally protected against pregnancy discrimination.
 
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From sociologist Bradley R.E. Wright’s Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites…And Other Lies You’ve Been Told: A Sociologist Shatters Myths From Secular and Christian Media, page 143 (Kindle), published in 2010:
For this analysis I examine data from the National Survey of Family Growth, which interviewed thousands of women about all manner of reproductive issues. Catholic women were the least likely to have an abortion, with about 1 in 5 of them having done so. About 1 in 4 Protestant women have had abortions, and about 1 in 3 religiously unaffiliated women and members of other religions have had an abortion. Among both Protestants and Catholics, abortion rates dropped considerably with increased church attendance. About 1 in 3 Protestant women who rarely attended church had abortions compared to about half that rate, 1 in 6, of weekly attendees. Likewise, among Catholic women, abortion rates drop from about 1 in 4 to about 1 in 8.
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https://www.amazon.com/Christians-Hate-Filled-Hypocrites-Other-Youve/dp/0764207466
 
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Some employers, such as larger businesses, could afford to. Additionally, the employers don’t necessarily have to cover all of it. In Canada, I think both the employees and employers contribute to paying for parental leave. A portion of the earnings of the employee goes towards the maternity or paternity leave payments. Businesses also don’t have to pay 100% maternity leave; a decent percentage over a period of time could be enough incentive for some women to stay home.
 
Monica83 said:
If its true poverty, then shes most likely not working full time and she probably already is on welfare. Sometimes women have babies to get more welfare money and then sell food stamps to buy drugs. Many other working class women WANT those govt subsidies including Medicaid to kick in for both them and their child so keep their working hours low and get what they can from the child’s father.
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What does any of that have to do with being pro-life?
 
Theo520 said:
Yes, thanks for the correction, but I think you are referring to sick leave and vacation. I’m not aware they can also accrue maternity leave.
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Not only that. Even the best of employers have use-it-or-lose it policies. Usually not enough to accrue
a reasonable amount of paid maternity leave, especially if there are already other kids in the family for
which a parent has to take leave to care for (like when they are sick, out of school, etc.)
 
I respectfully disagree. While I am eternally grateful for my stay at home mother, it’s important for the development of humanity that women are granted the same opportunities. I dream of a world in which men and women have equal acesss to the workplace, children are raised in family’s that split caretaking duties, and women naturally family plan to allow for them to hold careers (which would include adequate time off for taking care of newborns.)
 
Well, they use all the subsidies available. Why do they need paid maternity leave too? It just further incentivizes poor life choices.
 
JanSobieskiIII said:
Do you want to see women quit getting hired for jobs? Because that’s how you see women quit getting hired for jobs.
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Paid maternity leave should be covered by the federal government. Then the only issue for the employer would be filling the gap while the person was out on leave. And of course, in the US we can afford it. It is
all about priorities. Cuts in waste alone could cover the cost of it. But I doubt I will see it in my lifetime. Maybe in the lifetime of my yet to be born grandchild. Assuming my daughter can afford to take unpaid
leave to have one.
 
Most employers allow sick leave to be banked either indefinitely or at least to 12 weeks exactly for the reason it can be used to cover medical leave. Normally, vacation is use-it or lose-it but even then some employers will make an exception and allow it to carry over.
 
Small businesses tend to not want to pay overtime because it takes away money for expanding and improving their business. Its not a prolife or antilife view. Its just rational.
 
My former employer even allowed other employees to “donate” their PTO to help someone going on maternity leave.
 
I didn’t say it would solve her dilemma. My point is that we can think of ways to offer more financial and emotional support and assistance to poor women deciding whether to terminate their pregnancies. Paid maternity leave can be a good START for accomplishing this. It’s not the ONLY solution, nor is it a perfect, long-term solution.

It can also last more than 12 weeks. Some of the Scandinavian countries offer parental leave up to 16 months. After the babies are born, we can also assist the women with receiving access to local pregnancy shelters or other non-profit organizations for extra support. If necessary, they can also be helped to seek assistance from certain social programs or services provided by the government to help them make ends meet. Small things like this can make a difference in the life or death of a baby for women who are considering abortion for financial reasons. The hope is that the woman’s financial situation will eventually improve, but we can offer her support to help her through the hard times. During the year a woman has time off with her baby, perhaps the financial circumstances could improve if her partner finds a better-paying job. There are also benefits that go beyond the economical when we are talking about maternity leave. There are so many factors at play, so there’s no one simple solution, but paid maternity leave could be ONE method to help more mothers choose life for their babies.

What makes you think very few adults earn minimum wage for full-time work? Many of my friends and I are recent college graduates; there aren’t a lot of high-paying jobs available for us in the current job market. We’re working either minimum wage full-time or several part-time time jobs until better opportunities come along. We’re also of child-bearing age. In fact, one of my friends actually did have a baby. She and her husband cannot even afford to move out of his parents’ basement. So it’s not just the hypothetical single mom who needs support. Many young married couples with full-time, low-paying jobs also struggle to raise families.

It’s easy to make over-generalizations, but everyone’s life circumstances are unique. I’m not saying paid parental leave will drastically decrease the abortion rate or that it’s the only solution or even the best solution, but I do find it to be a pro-life, family-friendly policy. Some people struggle more than others and require different types of supports. It can make enough of a financial difference for SOME parents who might otherwise choose to not keep their babies.
 
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Because most women who have abortions are not married. Marriage=stability=fewer abortions=pro-life. Simple.

Oh, and official Catholic teaching too. The Church does, after all, teach that sex is only proper for married couples.
 
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