Sign and Support Federal Paid Parental Leave for 3 Years in America
When we invest into babies, we invest into our shared future
A National Emergency Petition
The motivation behind the movement
Having a baby saved my life from depression and drinking, but I almost didn’t have a baby. Not because I didn’t want to be a mother, but because the thought of having a baby in the USA was horrifying. I would carry a baby for 9 months, risk my life in childbirth, and be rushed back to work within weeks so I could pay rent. This isn’t a special story, it’s the reality for families in America. The United States is the only developed country on earth that doesn’t have a paid family leave policy at the national level.
When I returned to work, I was heartbroken separating from my baby. Each day I was sleep deprived, exhausted from the energy it takes to produce milk and finding time to pump in a work bathroom. Being a new mother felt impossible while working. So I requested to work part-time to be present and nurse my baby, and I was fired.
Something ignited in me. I started interviewing strangers with a baby on my hip about the paid leave crisis. I met a father who wished he had paid leave, yet bore the pressure of becoming a one-income household. A business owner who said “It’s one of the reasons I didn’t become a mother. Paid leave isn’t just a woman’s issue, it affects everyone.” And the most devastating story of a mother who had a C-section and returned to work just 7 days after. She had no choice.
Their stories were different, but the message was the same: they were all impacted by the lack of paid leave in America.
A national emergency
The only other places without paid leave are Papua New Guinea, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Tonga. Six are developing island nations, and the seventh is the richest economy in human history: the United States.
This is not the American standard. We should have the best paid leave program on earth.
Only 1 in 4 workers has access to paid family leave through their employment.
14 states have stepped up and guarantee paid family leave.
As many as 1 in 4 employed mothers return to work within two weeks of giving birth. Nearly three quarters say they did so because they could not afford to stay home with their baby.
The federal law we do have, FMLA, provides only 12 weeks of unpaid leave. About 44 percent of workers don’t even qualify because of employer size or work history requirements.
Meanwhile, federal employees have received 12 weeks of paid parental leave since 2020. Congress has already recognized that paid leave matters. It’s time to extend that protection to every American family.
And here is what should make you stop: America already pays for infant care. We fund daycare vouchers for strangers to care for babies, but we won’t give a mother one dollar of paid leave to raise her own. We already decided infant care is worth public money. We just decided the mother is the one person who shouldn’t receive it.
The Most Desired Policy Across Both Parties
82 percent of American voters support a federal paid family leave program, including 90 percent of Democrats and 76 percent of Republicans, according to a 2024 national poll by Morning Consult for Pivotal Ventures and the Bipartisan Policy Center. This is not a partisan issue, it is an American issue.
The way we treat babies reveals what kind of society we are building
Politicians, economists, and business owners talk about this, but no one asks what a baby really needs.
A baby is completely dependent and completely vulnerable. Babies need their mother in the earliest years of life. Close contact helps regulate a baby’s heart rate, breathing, temperature, and stress response. The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and continued breastfeeding for up to two years and beyond. Yet most mothers return to work long before they can meet these recommendations. Separating a baby from their mother this early is biologically abnormal.
And where do the babies go? Into rooms that are understaffed, underpaid, and crowded, where one caregiver is stretched across many infants. We need to ask what is in the best interest of our babies.
Babies cannot speak, so we must.
Mothers Deserve to Heal and Be in the Season of Motherhood
Recovery from childbirth does not end at six weeks. A six-week checkup does not mean a mother is healed. Birth leaves a wound inside the uterus roughly the size of a dinner plate where the placenta detached. Mothers bleed for weeks, and a C-section is major abdominal surgery. Research shows postpartum recovery can continue for months, and for some women, up to two years.
The postpartum period is also a critical time for mental health. About 1 in 8 new mothers experiences postpartum depression symptoms, and paid leave is associated with lower rates of maternal depression.
Paid leave saves lives. Research has found that each additional month of paid maternity leave is associated with a 13% reduction in infant mortality. Supporting mothers and babies is not only compassionate, it is an investment in the health and future of America.
Having a successful career and caring for young children should not have to happen at the same moment. Mothers deserve to be in the season of motherhood.
A nation reveals what it values by what it invests in
The United States spends less than 1% of its GDP on family benefits, while the average developed nation invests about 2.35%.
We invest in children attending public school for 13 years because they are the future. Babies become tomorrow’s nurses, teachers, farmers, builders, and caregivers. The babies in strollers today will be the workers paying retirees’ Social Security. We believe our elderly deserve dignity at the end of life for 20 to 30 years. The beginning of life deserves protection too.
If we want a stronger America tomorrow, we must invest in the people who will build it.
How Do We Pay for Paid Leave?
A dedicated social insurance contribution, the same way Social Security is funded, pooled across all workers so no single family or business carries the cost alone. We have the money. We already fund infant care through daycare subsidies. The complete funding model, with sources, is in the full plan.
America should have the best paid family leave program because America should be the best place in the world to raise a child.
Paid Leave Is the Smartest Investment for Our Country
The countries with the longest paid leave have higher rates of women in the workforce, because mothers aren’t forced to quit. It saves employers money, because paid leave reduces turnover. And it pays the country back: a National Bureau of Economic Research analysis found that every $1,000 invested in paid leave returns $7,000 to $29,000 in social benefits: healthier mothers, healthier babies, lower healthcare costs, and children who grow up to earn more. Paid leave benefits everyone.
We, the undersigned, call on Congress to make America the world leader in supporting new families by:
• Establishing a national paid family leave program protecting a child’s earliest years, up to 3 years.
• Funding the program through a dedicated social insurance system.
• Protect every parent’s job while they care for a new child.
• Guaranteeing paid family leave for every family, regardless of employer, income, or state.
America should give every child the best start in the world!
We are collecting 1000 stories to take to congress. If you are a mother or father, please share how the lack of paid leave has impacted your life.
Sign the Petition
Sign the Petition
We, the undersigned, call on Congress to make America the world leader in supporting new families by:
• Establishing a national paid family leave program protecting a child’s earliest years, up to 3 years.
• Funding the program through a dedicated social insurance system.
• Protecting every parent’s job while they care for a new child.
• Guaranteeing paid family leave for every family, regardless of employer, income, or state.
America should give every child the best start in the world.
I am collecting 1,000 stories to take to congress. If you are a mother, father, or know anyone who has been personally impacted by the lack of paid leave in America please share your testimonial.