Every person deserves the freedom and support to create the family they want, when they want, and to raise their children with dignity and security. That freedom has been systematically undermined by political corruption, ideological extremism, and a healthcare system shaped by profit rather than people. Family policy in America has too often been dictated by powerful interests and culture-war politics instead of evidence, compassion, and basic human dignity. Real freedom begins with reproductive autonomy and continues through pregnancy, birth, childhood, and caregiving.

 

I support codifying reproductive rights into federal law, including the right to safe and legal abortion nationwide, as well as protecting access to contraception, emergency contraception, and IVF. No one’s bodily autonomy or healthcare should depend on their ZIP code or on which politicians have been captured by extremist donors. This is especially urgent in the South and in Black, brown, and working-class communities, where access to reproductive and maternal healthcare has been deliberately restricted for decades through policies rooted in control rather than care. I also support repealing federal restrictions that block foreign aid to organizations providing abortion services and comprehensive reproductive healthcare, and I support reauthorizing and strengthening the Violence Against Women Act, including full funding for survivor services, shelters, and legal aid. Violence and coercion thrive when government fails to protect people and instead caters to ideology and neglect.

 

The United States has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the developed world, with the worst outcomes concentrated in poor communities and communities of color. These outcomes are not inevitable—they are the result of chronic underinvestment, healthcare consolidation, and political decisions that prioritize cost-cutting and corporate margins over lives. That is unacceptable. We must make major, sustained investments in maternal and infant health, expand access to high-quality prenatal and postpartum care, strengthen community-based providers, and fully restore medical research and public health funding that has been cut in recent years. This includes expanding access to comprehensive healthcare for women, including postpartum and mental health care, so people are not abandoned once they leave the delivery room.

 

Supporting families also means supporting children and the people who care for them. I support free universal pre-K and truly affordable childcare so no parent is forced to choose between earning a living and caring for their family. Childcare is essential infrastructure, yet it has been treated as a private burden instead of a public good, leaving families squeezed while providers struggle. Our policies should reflect the reality that a functioning economy depends on care work.

 

Economic security is central to family stability. I support restoring and strengthening the expanded Child Tax Credit, which cut child poverty by nearly half before Congress allowed it to expire under pressure from austerity politics and donor interests. That success proved what is possible when policy is allowed to work for people instead of ideology. No child should grow up in poverty, and the federal government has a responsibility to guarantee basic needs rather than tolerate hardship as collateral damage.

 

Raising children and caring for family members is real work—necessary, demanding, and socially valuable—but our economic system treats it as invisible. I support guaranteeing at least one year of paid parental leave, strong workplace protections for pregnant and postpartum workers, and federal programs that provide meaningful income support for stay-at-home parents and caregivers. Under this approach, parents caring for children full time would earn Social Security credits, ensuring that choosing to raise a family does not mean sacrificing long-term financial security. A society that benefits from caregiving must stop exploiting caregivers.

 

In 2025, having and raising a child in America should not be an act of financial risk or political defiance. We can and should make it easier for people to build the families they want by ending corruption in healthcare and social policy, rejecting coercion and neglect, and delivering real reproductive freedom, real healthcare, and real economic support. Family policy should serve families—not ideologues, profiteers, or political power games.