With the first funnel week passing in the Iowa Capitol, the Iowa Senate Democrats had two bills that deal with maternal care fail. 

Senate File 435 looked to protect pregnant workers and adoptive parents with reasonable accommodations.  Senate File 56 was a bill introduced to expand medicaid coverage and add reimbursements for postpartum care. Senator for District 14 Sarah Trone-Garriott says families need support when having a child and that means having access to health care and healthy working conditions. 

“It is a really scary thing to be a parent and have a new life come into your world and need to care for it and we need to make sure folks know that they have support that helps people become good parents and be there for their kids.”

 Trone-Garriott says Senate File 435 would also help with the current workforce shortage because Iowa leads the nation in the number of families with children under five-years-old who have both parents working full-time. She says these bills could possibly be brought up again in the budget session or as an amendment in this legislation session.