NEW YORK – Amber Scorah wrote a blog in The New York Times about feeling forced to leave her 3-month-old son at day care and return to work before she felt ready. He died in his first three hours at day care.
"This isn't an indictment of the company I work for; I had one of the better parental leave policies of anyone I know. What this article is about is that my infant died in the care of a stranger, when he should have been with me. Our culture demanded it," Scorah wrote. She spoke with "The Today Show" Thursday.
"There's no words to describe the horror and disbelief," she said.
The Texas Workforce Commission only addresses maternity, not paternity, leave and says if a business has fewer than 15 employees paid leave "is not covered by any employment law relating to pregnancy or disability, and the business would be free to handle the situation in any way it deems appropriate"
For larger companies, it states they can "usually get away with two weeks … but might be expected to increase the time somewhat."
Under federal guidelines of the Family Medical Leave Act, eligible employees can take up to 12 weeks, unpaid, for childbirth.
It's an issue the two female presidential candidates are addressing with extremely different viewpoints.
"For the government to tell others how to do things when the government hasn't gotten the house in order is not only ineffective, it's hypocritical," Republican Carly Fiorina said.
"We need to recognize the incredible challenges that so many parents face!" Democrat Hillary Clinton said.
Meanwhile, Scorah is left asking why, writing:
"Karl still might not have lived a day longer, but had he had been with me, where I wanted him, I wouldn't be sitting here, living with the nearly incapacitating anguish of a question that has no answer."
White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, in a partnership with Spotify, is calling for states to legislate mandatory paid family leave.