As students at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and future pediatricians, we are writing in strong support of Senate Bill 1, legislation that would establish paid family and medical leave in New Hampshire.

We have already had numerous experiences that show how important this legislation is to the health and well-being of our state’s children and families. We’d like to share two stories about real patients we were fortunate to care for (we’ve changed the names to protect their privacy). The story of Isaac comes from Emily’s clinical experience, and the story of Jody comes from Ashley’s clinical experience in southern New Hampshire.

Isaac was a teenage boy receiving chemotherapy for high-risk lymphoma. In typical teenager fashion, he appeared indifferent when his mom, a single parent, had to leave him alone to go to work.

On his fourth day at the hospital, Isaac’s health changed from stable to a state of septic shock. When told of the situation on the phone, his mom’s voice was shaking, but she was determined. She would leave work immediately. Even so, she was a three-hour drive from the hospital.

Back at his bedside, it became overwhelmingly apparent that Isaac was a scared child who desperately wished his mom were here with him. His indifferent teenage facade broke for the first time.

How can we leave some children in the hospital without a parent by their side? In the current model, low-income families — often the families most in need of support — are the ones least likely to have access to paid leave. The plan jointly proposed by New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and Vermont Gov. Phil Scott would do nothing to address this inequity in our system and, if anything, would result in a widening of a gap between our state’s most privileged and most vulnerable populations.

Jody was a 15-day-old infant being treated for neonatal opiate withdrawal. Her mother, Stephanie, was a single parent, seven years into recovery from opiate use disorder. Stephanie’s resilience and devotion to her infant were incredible, but she was faced with an impossible decision: Does she miss another day of work, at the risk of losing her job and all financial security? Or does she leave her newborn daughter alone in a hospital bed?

Current evidence on treatment for neonatal abstinence syndrome suggests that breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact help with withdrawal symptoms. Simply having the mother room with her newborn can decrease the length of hospitalization for an infant exposed to opiates in-utero.

New Hampshire is working hard to help individuals with opiate use disorder enter treatment programs, but what about the next generation? We need to do our part to protect the children affected by this epidemic, and this cannot be done adequately without a universal paid family and medical leave program.

Paid family and medical leave is critical to building strong families, and a strong economy.

The system in New Hampshire now allows individual employers to determine what is offered to employees in terms of paid leave to attend to family or medical concerns. In this private market model, very few men have access to a paid family and medical leave benefit. SB 1 is designed to ensure that fathers can be home with their newborn child, or care for a sick family member, without jeopardizing the family’s financial security.

Furthermore, although women make up 47 percent of our workforce, gender norms still make it difficult for women to balance motherhood and a meaningful and successful career. As a result, women disproportionately feel the impact of inadequate family leave policies. Paid family and medical leave can lead to an increase in women in the workforce and can also improve employee retention, both of which are important in a region with a significant labor shortage.

By creating a system that truly supports leave-sharing in dual-earner households, we allow for both mothers and fathers to take on a primary parental role.

The U.S. is the only industrialized nation in the world that doesn’t promise paid parental leave to working parents. With SB 1, New Hampshire has the opportunity to be a leader in our country, joining several other states and Washington, D.C., in passing paid family and medical leave legislation. This bill passed the New Hampshire Senate last month and on Wednesday it was approved by the House. However, the momentum could stop at Sununu’s desk if he decides to veto the bill.

How can we put a price on the health of New Hampshire’s children? How can we stay silent while our state’s current infrastructure makes it very difficult for low-income families to care for their children? Passing and signing SB 1 would send an important message: that New Hampshire cares about family values, gender equality and the health of our state’s children.

Ashley Hamel and Emily Georges are students at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. They are scheduled to start their residencies in pediatrics in the next few months.