{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/07/23/2025/cotton-colleagues-introduce-legislation-to-provide-parental-leave-and-compensation-for-miscarriages-and-stillbirths", "Cotton, Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Provide Parental Leave and Compensation for Miscarriages and Stillbirths", "2025-07-23", "2025", "2025-07", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, DC \u2014 Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) today introduced the Helping with Equal Access to Leave and Investing in Needs for Grieving Mothers and Fathers Act, or HEALING Mothers and Fathers Act, to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to include the spontaneous loss of an unborn child as a qualifying medical condition for FMLA leave. The bill would also establish a tax credit for a woman that suffers the loss of a child in the womb.\n\n\u201cThis bill will make sure families receive the resources they need to help recover from the unexpected loss of a child. No amount of money can replace such a loss, but the legislation will make sure parents have time to begin the recovery process,\u201d said Senator Cotton.\n\n\u201cIt has taken policymakers too long to recognize that parents should be allowed time to heal following a miscarriage or stillbirth. The loss of a child is devastating and heartbreaking for families, and this legislation formally acknowledges their need for time following such a loss,\u201d Senator Hyde-Smith said.\n\nThe HEALING Mothers and Fathers Act mirrors a similar bill in Arkansas introduced by State Representative Les Eaves called Paisley\u2019s Law, named in honor of his late granddaughter, Paisley.\n\nBill text is here.\n\nThe HEALING Mothers and Fathers Act would:\n\nAmend the FMLA to include spontaneous loss of an unborn child as a qualified medical condition for FMLA leave and civil service employee leave.\n\nWomen and their spouses would be entitled to take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for loss of an unborn child.\n\nSpontaneous loss of an unborn child is defined in the bill as \u2018the loss of a child in the womb that is unplanned and not resulting from a purposeful act.\u2019\n\nAll requirements related to certification, notice, flexibility and leave substitution are consistent with current standards for claiming FMLA leave.\n\nEstablish refundable tax credit for any mother, or couple, who suffers a stillbirth.\n\nStillbirth is defined as \u201cthe delivery of a child where there was a spontaneous death, not induced by any purposeful act, before the complete delivery from the child\u2019s mother.\u201d\n\nA family would be eligible for the tax credit if a stillbirth certificate, under applicable state law, has been issued for the child.\n\nThese funds could not be used for any abortion procedure\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T14:40:33Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/07/23/2025/cotton-colleagues-introduce-legislation-to-provide-parental-leave-and-compensation-for-miscarriages-and-stillbirths"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.799698056653142, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}