For Immediate Release: Thursday, September 9, 2021
Contact: [email protected]

Washington, DC — Today, the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee will markup the “Build Back Better Act,” including a provision requiring up to 12 weeks of universal paid family and medical leave for nearly all workers.

NARAL Pro-Choice America Chief Campaigns and Advocacy Officer Christian LoBue released the following statement in response:

“It’s critical to invest in paid family and medical leave if we’re to realize a future where reproductive freedom is truly for all of us. As our country continues to face an unprecedented public health and economic crisis, it is more urgent than ever that Congress take action to ensure that working families have the resources that they need to provide for and care for their loved ones. We are grateful to the House Ways and Means Committee and Chairman Richard Neal for working to ensure that no one is forced to choose between a paycheck and caring for their family.”

The paid leave provisions in the Build Back Better Act are built off of Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s (D-CT) FAMILY Act. They are designed to ensure that all working people have the ability to take time off of work to care for their own health and their children and family members.

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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, paid family leave, and protections from pregnancy discrimination—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support safe, legal abortion.