In the United States, she is fighting for longer maternity leave

The story and despair of Rebecca, the young mother of a premature baby, has brought to light the shortcomings of the American maternity leave system. “She was scheduled for January 11, 2022, a few weeks ago but she decided to arrive 13 weeks early, so she was born at 27 weeks, she weighed 961 grams“, she breathes. Eden, Rebecca’s daughter therefore spent 72 days in intensive care at birth, but Rebecca’s employer had only authorized her to take six weeks of paid maternity leave and six weeks without pay. Rebecca thus had to return to work to save her days off for her daughter’s discharge from hospital and moved social media with her tears.”My daily life has become: expressing my milk at work, getting ready to go see her at the hospital, going home in the evening and starting again the next day.“, confides Rebecca.

Going back to work right after giving birth was the only way Rebecca could have time for her daughter when she was discharged from the hospital. “When I went back to work, I was still bleeding, I had a lot of cramps“, says Rebecca. The United States is the only rich country in the world that does not guarantee paid parental leave. When a child is born, American law allows six weeks of unpaid leave. For comparison , paid parental leave is 39 weeks in the UK and 68 weeks in Sweden.

In telling her story, Rebecca saw how systemic this problem was. “I read a lot of comments from people who recognized themselves perfectly in my story. It’s the only option we had to save our holidays“, she explains.

President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan called for 12 weeks of paid parental leave, but that clause was dropped. “I don’t believe that six weeks is enough to get to know a new human being, understand their habits and take care of them.“, concludes Rebecca. Thanks to her TikTok post, the young mother of 26 years has received donations which will allow her to extend her leave, but she would like things to change for all young parents.