City councils in several states have implemented policies allowing city employees to take paid leave after having an elective abortion.
According to a report by National Review, the city councils in Boston, Massachusetts and Portland, Oregon recently launched new paid leave policies to include city workers who have had an abortion.
In Boston, the city council amended its paid parental leave policy to include “a loss of pregnancy that is not a still birth including a miscarriage or termination.” In other words, those who deliberately end their pregnancy are entitled to paid parental leave.
The Washington Examiner noted that “Boston now offers the same paid leave for abortion that it does for childbirth. Men and women can get up to 12 weeks of paid leave: four weeks at full pay, four weeks at 75% pay, and four weeks at 50% pay.” The city council unanimously supported this measure last September.
On the west coast, as Spencer covered, Portland unanimously approved changes to the city’s bereavement leave policy in October to allow time off for employees who have an abortion. A document from the City of Portland Auditor’s Office outlines the Pregnancy Loss Bereavement Leave policy, stating that “other loss” of pregnancy, aside from stillbirth, “[includes] termination, irrespective of whether deemed medically necessary.” The time off benefit is three days.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the time off benefit for city employees who’ve lost a pregnancy is also three days. This includes miscarriage, in vitro failure, or an abortion.
The National Catholic Register reported that in Pittsburgh, an earlier version of the policy included language that prevented employees from using bereavement time after an abortion. This version stated that “for the process of terminating a pregnancy, a City employee is barred from taking paid bereavement leave, and instead may choose to take medical leave.”
Terry Schilling, the president of the American Principles Project, told the Washington Free Beacon last fall that these policies subvert the pro-abortion argument that abortion is an ordinary medical procedure.
“Supporters of abortion often claim it is a medical procedure like any other and that it shouldn’t be treated any differently than typical health care,” he told the Free Beacon. “So it’s somewhat suprising to see these cities categorizing abortion as a loss of pregnancy. Why should someone need time away from work if abortion were simply a routine operation?”
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