I kept a squeeze bottle by the toilet for the first two weeks after giving birth. I’d had a straightforward labor, but nonetheless there was a small, superficial wound next to my urethra. My midwife described it as a “little scratch,” breezily informing me that I was fortunate to not need stitches. So whenever I needed to relieve myself, I filled the squeeze bottle with cool water and aimed it at my crotch, diluting the stream of urine and reducing the excruciating, searing pain I felt to a bearable level.

Though I knew that the United States was a harsh outlier in how it treats mothers and newborn babies, I don’t think I fully grasped the cruelty of this regime until I experienced childbirth myself. Not only is there no guaranteed paid maternity leave for American mothers, 40 percent of women are not even covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act, which grants twelve entirely unpaid weeks off.

Here, one in four new mothers is forced to return to work within ten days of giving birth. Ten days! When their wounds are still healing, their uteruses have only partially deflated, and their brains are a swirling mess of exhaustion, love, and animal terror that the tiny, helpless creature who relies on them might come to harm.