I am not well familiar with American context, but as far as I know, in countries such as Canada, there is a difference between parental/maternity benefits and child benefits. Mothers can be entitled to a parental leave but not to maternal/parental benefits. Parents can also be eligible for some child benefits, which are usually some form of a tax break. So, this particular sentence suggests that there is no universal/national parental/maternity benefits to which the mothers are entitled in the US. Parents are entitled to a parental leave, but they are not paid by the state/federal government any benefits. Such benefits are usually corporate, provided by some employers in the form of paid paternal/maternity leaves. I could also see in google that some states (California) in the US started offering some form of parental benefits, such as paid parental leave. See the web references I provided for discussions of differences in parental leave policies across the countries. Both articles suggest that the US is one of the few developed nations that does not have national policy on paid parental leave.