Four Mothers with Abigail Leonard

The author joins The Pain Gap podcast to discuss what the world gets wrong about supporting moms.

This week on my podcast, I speak with Abigail Leonard, a journalist and author who blends intimate storytelling with sharp policy analysis. In her new book, Four Mothers, she follows first-time moms in Finland, Japan, Kenya, and the United States as they embark on the transformative first year of motherhood, revealing how culture and policy shape birth, postpartum care, mental health, and a mother’s sense of self.

Abigail’s work feels urgent for our community. In the U.S., new parents navigate a system with no guaranteed paid leave, patchy childcare, and persistent myths of maternal self-sacrifice. By contrasting that reality with countries that center maternal well-being, Abigail shows how support isn’t a luxury; it’s health care.

Abigail Leonard is an international reporter and news producer, previously based in Tokyo, where she was a frequent contributor to NPR, Time Magazine, and New York Times video. Before moving to Japan, she wrote and produced news documentaries as a staff producer for PBS, ABC and Al Jazeera America.

Stories she’s reported on earned an Overseas Press Club Award, a National Headliner Award, an Award for Excellence in Health Care Journalism and a James Beard Media Award Nomination.

In this conversation, Abigail and I explore the universal shocks of new parenthood and the wildly different outcomes produced by policy and culture. We dig into birth, pain, breastfeeding pressure, paternal leave, social media, and the single policy change that would move the needle fastest.

Make sure to pick up Four Mothers wherever you get books! If you’re navigating postpartum anxiety or depression, you’re not alone—talk to your provider and lean on your people.

You can listen to Abigail’s episode here.