SALT LAKE CITY — Democratic state lawmakers announced a package of what they say are “pro-family bills” Monday that they plan to introduce in the 2020 session of the Utah Legislature, including calls for expanded sex education, access to low-cost or free birth control, and six weeks of paid parental leave for state workers.
“We’re here because we take service to our community very seriously and it has to be backed up, not just by words, but by actions,” House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, said at a news conference held in the Capitol rotunda.
With Republicans holding a supermajority in both the state House and Senate, King said many elected officials describe themselves as pro-life but “substance is not backing up those words in a way we would like to see as Democrats here at the Utah state Legislature. What we’re trying to do is make sure we empower individuals.”
That includes giving students more information about sex than Utah’s current abstinence-based curriculum.
Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, a teacher, said she’s sponsoring a sex education bill next session to help counter “some troubling trends with suicide, sexual assault, the increase of sexually transmitted diseases” in schools.
Riebe said she wants “to create an opportunity for students to learn what a healthy relationship is, how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and also to prevent the use of pornography by Googling things instead of learning from an education person.”
More access to birth control, especially for low-income Utahns, was the focus of several of the bills in the package.
In August, Planned Parenthood of Utah chose to drop out of the nearly 50-year-old federal family planning program over a new Trump administration rule banning organizations that accept the funds from referring women for abortions. The move meant giving up $2 million used mainly for low-income, uninsured clients in Utah.
Rep. Jan Dailey-Provost, D-Salt Lake City, said she will seek $2 million in state funding to make up for the lost federal funding. She said the appropriation would be made available to Planned Parenthood as well as other health care providers.
“If we can ensure that every woman in our state is able to have the family that she wants when she wants it, ensuring that women have a greater opportunity to achieve financial solvency and success, they do better, their families do better,” Dailey-Provost said.
House Minority Assistant Whip Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, said she is sponsoring a resolution spelling out that Utahns should have access to low-cost or free contraceptives.
“If we’re going to take away services from women and vulnerable populations, then let’s make sure that they have access to contraceptives and that they’re available, that there’s free and affordable options,” Romero said. “I’m not even talking about families. I’m just talking about basic health rights for women and marginalized communities.”
She called the services provided by Planned Parenthood a critical lifeline that she depended on as a young woman.
“To see it under attack, that’s one of the reasons why I’m running this resolution. I want people to know that we, as their elected officials, we care about them regardless of their income or regardless of the lifestyle they choose to live. It is not our place to judge,” Romero said, adding “we need to make sure we are protecting all Utahns.”
Senate Minority Caucus Manager Derek Kitchen, D-Salt Lake City, who is seeking to expand the Medicaid coverage available for contraception to additional low-income Utahns, said he and others “are really concerned about the conversation about family planning and contraceptive access nationwide.”
State employees would be eligible for six weeks of paid parental leave under legislation proposed by Rep. Elizabeth Weight, D-West Valley City. She said her bill would cover both new mothers and fathers adding to their families through birth or adoption who’ve worked full time for the state for at least a year.
“In our strongly family-oriented state, this will support these Utah families and the consistent quality of our state services that they provide,” Weight said. She said with the state’s strong economy, such a benefit would help decrease turnover among state workers.
“This is the ‘walk-the-walk’ legislation for Utah,” she said, calling on the state to catch up with what some private companies and other states offer. “Utah can not only acknowledge families and its parent employees’ value, but it can become even smarter and stronger economically.”
Among the other legislation announced Monday are bills that would create a pilot program allowing parents who are state employees to bring their infant children to work, require insurance providers to cover infertility treatments and expand Medicaid coverage for pregnant women.