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November 22, 2009

To: The Oregonian

Subject:

Dear Editor,

It's unfortunate that Paid Family Leave didn't pass the state legislature last week.  With the majority of parents now in the labor force, Paid Family Leave is a policy that's needed to bring us into modern times.  In fact, it's a national embarrassment that we don't have this policy in place--particularly since we are one of only 4 countries, in a Harvard study of 168 countries, that doesn't offer some form of paid leave for new mothers. We share that dubious distinction with Papua New Guinea, Liberia, and Swaziland.  It's time to catch up with the rest of the world.

In addition, Paid Family Leave has been shown to reduce infant mortality by as much as 20% (and the U.S. ranks a low 37th of all countries in infant mortality so we need as much help as we can get in this area), as well as to help keep families out of poverty.  Right now, having a baby is a leading cause of "poverty spells" in this country--poverty spells are a time when income dips below what's needed for basic living expenses like food and rent.  And a full quarter of families with children under six years old live in poverty here.  We need paid family leave to help Oregon's families, to decrease poverty, and to lower infant mortality.

Passing this policy should be top priority next legislative session here in Oregon.

Sincerely,

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The United States is one of only 4 countries, in a Harvard study of over 170 countries, that doesn?t offer some form of paid leave for new mothers. We share that dubious distinction with Papua New Guinea, Liberia, and Swaziland. It's time to catch up with the rest of the world.

Paid Family Leave has been shown to reduce infant mortality by as much as 20% (and the U.S. ranks a low 37th of all countries in infant mortality).

Kudos to Representative Rosenbaum for leading the charge for Paid Family Leave his year.

The is one state in our nation where this program has been working for years, California. Administrative costs have remained low in California. It's a tried and true program that's working well elsewhere. We can pass it here too.

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