This petition is intended to create a mandate that federal employees receive paid parental leave of at least 12 weeks.
According to a recent article by The Guardian (http://gu.com/p/43zy5/sbl), the United States is the only developed country to not require paid maternal leave. The proposed leave of 12 weeks is equivalent that of Mexico, which represents the shortest mandated leave of all developed countries. Paid parental leave, including leave for fathers, has significant effects on decreasing infant mortality rates. These benefits are not achieved with unpaid leave (Tanaka, 2005).
Tanaka, Sakiko. "Parental leave and child health across oecd countries*." The Economic Journal 115.501 (2005): F7-F28.