A satiric video about paid maternity leave was recently released, and its star, Lauren, has been pregnant for five years.
Lauren works as a paralegal for a law firm in Denver, and the video begins with her slowly walking into work. When Lauren turns around, you can see how gigantic her stomach is.
The video goes on to explain that Lauren is 260 weeks pregnant because she can’t afford to take the time off work to have her baby. Neither she or her husband have paid family leave, so the narrator explains that Lauren has decided to wait and have her baby when it is six years old. Although she and her husband had discussed moving to a country that does offer paid maternity leave, that idea wouldn’t work since Lauren cannot fly on an airplane.
So, since Lauren has no other options, she just has to keep being pregnant. Although this video is completely fake and pregnancy doesn’t work like this at all, it does draw attention to an important issue for many women. Currently, the United States is the only country that doesn’t guarantee women paid maternity leave.
Even fathers are not given paid leave after welcoming a baby into the world. Although some employers do offer paid leave policies for pregnant women, a whopping 86 percent are left without it, making it difficult for them to afford to take much time off.
