The trend of maternity crowdfunding is pointing to a need for better federal paid maternity leave policies that help women take the necessary time they need when they have a child,” Sara Margulis, CEO of Honeyfund.com, said. Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, agrees. “This is evidence of our failure as a nation to adopt policies that provide the basic supports that all workers need at some point in their lives and nearly every other country provides.

I think we can all agree that becoming a caregiver, whether to a new baby or a family member, is a huge undertaking. As an executive business leader of a highly successful tech company, and mother to four, I know what it’s like to make decisions about time management, finances, and spending time with your family. It’s not easy.

About 8 of 10 workers who took leave and received either no or a portion of their pay said they had to cut back on spending to make ends meet…[a]cross all incomes, almost 2 out of 10 leave-takers went on public assistance. Low-income workers feel the most pain when it comes to figuring out how to pay for leave…[a]lmost half delayed paying their bills and went on public assistance.

Juliana Horowitz, associate director of research for Pew… said it wasn’t hard to find agreement that paid family leave is a positive thing. “Americans think the overall impact on families and individuals and the economy would be mostly positive. The disagreement really comes on how to provide it, who should provide it and who should be eligible for it.”

Heitkamp believes [the FAMILY Act] will benefit… small business owners who sometimes struggle to provide paid family leave to their employees… Linda Steve, a semi-retired certified public accountant, said… “This is not a gender-specific issue, this is a person issue…[whether it’s] the birth of the child or the health condition of a parent or a child or a spouse, [having paid leave] makes them a much better employee.”

The key lesson from the states that have taken the bold step of implementing paid family leave is that the evidence is clear: paid leave is a good thing not just for families, but also for businesses and the economy as a whole. Building on existing social insurance systems has worked well for the states, and represents a promising model for expanding access to paid leave to all Americans.

Senate Democrats have reintroduced the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act, a bill that would pay for universal paid leave with a 0.2 percent surtax on wages, asking President Trump to make good on a campaign promise.