PSA Brilliantly Shows Why Some Moms Might Choose to Stay Pregnant for 260 Weeks

An overwhelming majority of workers in the United States — about 86 percent — aren’t offered paid family leave through their employers. More than 60 percent do not have access to paid personal medical leave through an employer’s short-term disability insurance program.

The National Partnership for Women & Families is working hard to change these sad stats, beginning with this brilliant but sad PSA created by Biscuit Filmworks titled “A Long Five Years.”

Meet “Lauren” — a massively pregnant paralegal who unfortunately can’t afford to take time off from work to give birth. Instead, Lauren opts to remain pregnant and accumulate enough vacation time to take a leave to give birth. She’s 260 weeks along and should have enough time off by the time the child turns 6 inside the womb.

The U.S. is one of only three countries in the world that doesn’t guarantee paid maternity leave. The other two are Oman and Papua New Guinea. Only four states — California, Washington, New Jersey, and Rhode Island — have paid family and medical leave laws.

The lack of paid maternity leave is the cause of myriad problems in the U.S., such as nearly 25 percent of new moms being forced to go back to work within two weeks of giving birth. Research has shown that when women don’t receive paid maternity leave, they’re more likely to drop out of the workforce completely, losing income for themselves and their families.

The National Partnership for Women & Families hopes the spot will persuade Americans, and not just those planning on having families, to ask their members of Congress to stand up for a better national paid family and medical leave standard across the U.S.

“A Long Five Years” was directed by Aaron Stoller and voiced by actress and activist Sophia Bush of One Tree Hill and Chicago P.D. Although the tone of the PSA is humorous, “A Long Five Years” is a somber reminder of the serious challenges faced by the more than 100 million U.S. workers living without paid family leave.

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