The New York State Division of Labor, in collaboration with the New York State Governor, Kathy Hochul, introduced final week that the state kicked off a public consciousness marketing campaign aimed toward selling New York as the primary state within the nation to supply paid prenatal depart.
The marketing campaign formally kicked off on New 12 months’s Day, Jan. 1, 2025; the purpose is to carry consciousness and educate New Yorkers and enterprise homeowners about this new regulation.
The target overwhelmingly is to tell pregnant ladies in New York State that there’s a new regulation established for pregnant ladies. “… they may by no means have to decide on between paycheck and prenatal care. That’s the reason I pushed to create the nation’s first prenatal depart coverage,” the governor declared.
Efficient Jan. 1, 2025, any privately employed pregnant ladies in New York State can now obtain an extra 20 hours of paid sick depart for prenatal care.
In line with the New York State Division of Labor, it’s estimated that about 130,000 pregnant ladies per yr shall be eligible for this profit, with about 65,800 of these being hourly paid staff. Being pregnant-related well being care contains bodily examinations, medical procedures, monitoring, testing, dialogue with a well being care supplier wanted to make sure a wholesome being pregnant, fertility remedy, and being pregnant care.
The paid prenatal depart advantages are along with New York State Paid Household Go away. Current employers in New York State have already supplied sick depart advantages, guaranteeing staff can obtain the well being care wanted to handle all pregnancy-related care to create wholesome outcomes with out jeopardizing their employment or funds. This is applicable to each full-time and part-time workers who’re pregnant. “Too many ladies are usually not in a position to obtain this medical care as a result of they can not take unpaid depart; one latest examine discovered that almost 40 % of ladies who didn’t get prenatal care reported this was attributable to an absence of paid depart or unaffordable care.”
Outcomes popping out of the marketing campaign’s survey confirmed that infants born to moms who acquired prenatal care and infants whose moms didn’t obtain prenatal care had been thrice extra more likely to have low delivery weight, lower than 5.5 kilos, and 5 instances extra more likely to die in infancy. Moreover, ladies who don’t obtain prenatal care are three to 4 instances extra more likely to die from pregnancy-related issues than those that do obtain prenatal care.
Pregnant ladies of coloration, particularly Black ladies, face disproportionately larger charges of being pregnant issues and maternal mortality nationally. Black ladies are overrepresented amongst pregnancy-related deaths, accounting for 14.3 % of all births in New York in 2018 however greater than half, 51 %, of maternal deaths. Black ladies are 5 instances extra more likely to die from being pregnant than white ladies and are additionally extra more likely to expertise issues. The preeclampsia price is 60 % larger in Black ladies than in white ladies.
In her continued help for the prenatal care advantages for New York State ladies, Gov. Hochul stated that paid prenatal depart is a part of her broader plan to enhance maternal and toddler mortality; she has established 12 weeks of paid parental depart advantages for greater than 80 % of the state workforce, prolonged postpartum protection for as much as a full yr of Medicaid and Baby Well being Plus enrollees, established statewide Medicaid protection for doulas, created the state’s first doula listing and has taken steps to remove cost-sharing for sure pregnancy-related advantages for these enrolled within the state cost-sharing for sure pregnancy-related advantages for these enrolled within the state’s Important Plan or Certified Well being Plans. `
