Pregnant People, LLC, Thanks America For Its (Lack Of) Support!

Welcome to America! A country that treats pregnancy as, well, let’s do a quick rundown…

  1. We are the only industrialized nation without a federal paid leave policy;
  2. Childcare costs are rising and in most states are unsustainable long-term;
  3. We have rising maternal mortality rates, considered the worst in the industrialized world;
  4. A new March of Dimes report has outlined a rapidly declining landscape in maternity care;
  5. We have no federal protections for abortion, which has lead to more pregnant people being criminalized as well as dying;
  6. And parenting has become so stressful and debilitating here, according to the U.S. Surgeon General, that parenting is now considered a public health emergency.

Cool, cool, cool!

And while we wait to see how Americans will vote in this year’s Presidential Election, which is going to determine a lot about the future of reproductive health and rights, we need some sort of comic relief to get us through the bleak times right now!

Thank the comedy goddesses for Pure and Weary, a comedy duo based out of Los Angeles, who always know how to comment on the most urgent zeitgeist issues in a fun and engaging way. Producer/writer/performers Katherine Biskupic and Leah Frires have released a new banger called ‘Pregnant People, LLC’ which celebrates birth and sends a “thank you” to the culture that supports it… or does it?

The sketch feels like a timely reminder that despite the fact this country lacks a LOT by way of support, policies and culture to actually give pregnant people what they need, we sure do have a lot of opinions about pregnancy itself and how it should be experienced.

“This piece developed out of our frustration at the lack of support for mothers in our country despite people often freely giving their many opinions on mother’s choices,” said the comedic duo in an email.

The idea for this video came about after the duo wrote and performed the sketch at the Portland Comedy Festival this past summer.

“After the audience responded to just about every line, we knew we wanted to film it and bring in more voices. We updated the piece to five voices. Anastasia Narinskiy has a toddler and is currently pregnant with her second child. Nthenya Ndunda and Leah Frires also have toddlers. Natalie D’Alacio and Katherine Biskupic enjoy pretending to be moms,” they shared.

One comment on Youtube summed up the sentiment perfectly, saying “this both delighted and enraged me”.

With lyrics like: “We love that communities provide us with absolutely nothing but every opinion on our extremely personal and vulnerable experience. Oh, and the touching”, it’s hard not to laugh, but also feel the rage!

Thank you to the Pure and Weary team for giving us something to tide us over in the lead up to a presidential campaign that will hopefully not allow us to slide into a reality similar to the ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ with Trump’s awful Project 2025. And here’s to the Pregnant People who put up with this shit everyday – we see you and promise to stop with the unsolicited opinions and touching, and instead champion more of the policies and systems of care you deserve!