@hullexile, No they don't - there's nothing inherently wrong with the population of a place getting smaller as far as I can see.
And maternity leave is absolutely discriminatory - it discriminates against those who choose not to have kids. I don't see why the lifestyle choice to have x months off to have children should be subsidised by the rest of us any more than, say, the lifestyle choice to have x months off to go and volunteer in Africa building basic infrastructure to bring clean water to people. It seems to me that the latter is of far greater benefit to humanity as a whole.