If America wants to increase birth rates, we need to mandate national paid maternity leave

Americans should be rightly alarmed that the country’s birth rates have declined to yet another new low — falling by 23% over the last nearly two decades.But they aren’t dropping for political reasons — the drop is as stark in Texas as it is in New York. They’re dropping, I fervently believe, because America is one of only seven countries out of 193 in the world — and the only developed country of those — not to offer national paid maternity leave. If you are a working woman and have a baby in this country — unless you are in the minority of people who have access to the benefit through their job, or the state they live (14 have a form of paid leave), or have a partner well off enough to support the family on one income — you will find yourself back at work within weeks of giving birth. In fact, according to a rare study by the Department of Labor, one in four women has returned to work within just 12 days of giving birth. This feels unconscionable, when — as most women who have given birth know — you will still be bleeding two months postpartum. You will also be sleepless, exhausted, and out of your mind with anxiety to be away from your newborn. But you will be back at work because often that is the only option on the table to ensure you have health insurance.Or can pay your bills.

Or feed your baby. Is it really a surprise then that women don’t want to give birth multiple times (2.1 per American woman, to be precise) needed to keep the population afloat?It isn’t, as many have argued, because women don’t want to reproduce, or because they don’t know or want the joy that comes from one of the greatest gifts in life.It’s not even necessarily because they can’t afford it. It’s because right now, those first weeks postpartum are often steeped in a trauma no one can really understand unless you’ve been through it — having to leave your child weeks, months, maybe even a year before you’re ready.I’ve wondered many ti...