Skip to main content
MomsRising's picture

We've updated our vision for 2024! See the newest version here.

Moms For Freedom Agenda:

A Vision to Lift Our Nation

We value our freedoms. The freedom to be there for our children and families when we’re needed most, to choose what’s best for our families, to send our kids to schools where every child belongs and can thrive, and to be able to earn equal pay and a living wage. It’s well past time for policies that allow our children to have the best start in life, parents and care workers to thrive, and our elders the best possible golden years. 

Moms are rising for quality, affordable child care, and for aging and disability services. For paid family and medical leave when a new child arrives or a serious illness strikes. For medications and health care, including mental health services, we can afford. For the freedom to make our own decisions about if, and when, we grow our families without interference from politicians. 

Moms are rising to make childbirth safe for everyone.  To welcome immigrants with dignity and respect. To invest in communities instead of prisons. To have all our votes counted.  For our children and families to live without gun violence, community violence, and police violence. For the wealthy and mega-corporations to pay their fair share. 

Moms are rising to advance programs that unite and lift us all – and to make clear that well-funded efforts by a vocal minority to divide us and take away our freedoms through censorship, book bans, health care denials and more do not provide the solutions we want or need. We know the solutions that will lift our nation and put families first. 

 

These are the top 10 policies every leader should support right now:

 

1. Workplace Justice and Paid Family and Medical Leave:  Advance permanent, comprehensive paid family and medical leave and earned sick time laws that give every working person access to paid leave. Raise the minimum wage, abolish the tipped minimum wage, achieve pay equity and transparency, and protect LGBTQIA+ people from discrimination through laws and executive orders.   

2. High-Quality Child Care:  Expand access to high-quality, affordable child care and pre-K in a publicly-funded, comprehensive early care system that ensures family-supporting wages for early educators and provides choices to families to meet their needs — regardless of race, zip code, ability, identity, the language they speak, or any other factor.

3. Access to Health Care & Aging and Disability Care: Secure quality, affordable health care for everyone by reducing prescription drug prices and health care costs. Expand Medicaid coverage by closing the coverage gap and increasing access to aging and disability care so unpaid family caregivers can rejoin the labor force. Provide fair compensation and support for care workers, who are disproportionately women of color and immigrants. 

4. Fair Taxation: Support families and end child poverty by extending improvements to the Child Tax Credit, including full refundability and access to the credit for ITIN filers. Enact tax policies that guarantee wealthy individuals and mega-corporations pay their fair share, which will generate revenue for the care economy infrastructure the country needs. Enact tax policies that guarantee wealthy individuals and mega-corporations pay their fair share, which will generate revenue for the care economy infrastructure the country needs and provide SNAP, WIC, Unemployment Insurance, and other vital programs that support low-income families.

5. Culturally-Relevant, Non-Carceral Mental Health Care: Address Americans’ top health concern by advancing federal investments in culturally-relevant, non-carceral  mental health resources for youth, parents and grandparents so families have the support they need to care and to thrive.

6. Maternal Justice: Improve health and well-being before, during and after pregnancy and stem the alarming rate of maternal mortality. Protect the full range of reproductive health care, including abortion care, particularly for Black communities and communities of color that are marginalized and whose reproductive health care needs are too often ignored. Make critical investments in maternal health care that will save moms' lives, end racial and ethnic maternal health disparities, and advance birth equity for everyone.

7. Fair Treatment of Immigrant Families: Recognize the contributions of immigrants in our communities and care infrastructure. Create a pathway to citizenship to protect Dreamers, TPS and DED holders, essential workers, and farmworkers. Welcome immigrants with dignity and respect while protecting their right to seek asylum under United States and international law.

8. Fight Gun Violence: Stop the loss of lives, livelihoods, wages and well-being caused by the escalating gun violence crisis by dismantling the culture of gun glorification and enacting common-sense gun safety laws like universal background checks and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

9. Youth and Family Justice: Replace failed criminal and legal interventions that harm families by advancing non-carceral public safety strategies and investing in public health approaches. End mass incarceration and mass criminalization. Invest in trauma-informed care, nurses, and therapists in schools and move away from school-based law enforcement. Advocate for accurate and inclusive public education as the foundation of a just democracy. 

10. Democracy Protection: Expand voting rights by increasing access to the ballot while blocking policies that make it harder to vote, making Election Day a federal holiday, and stopping election interference to restore faith in our democracy, deepen mom voter engagement and mobilize mom voters.


The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of MomsRising.org.

MomsRising.org strongly encourages our readers to post comments in response to blog posts. We value diversity of opinions and perspectives. Our goals for this space are to be educational, thought-provoking, and respectful. So we actively moderate comments and we reserve the right to edit or remove comments that undermine these goals. Thanks!