diff --git a/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/converters/_markdownify.py b/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/converters/_markdownify.py
index 5b6d739..e15f607 100644
--- a/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/converters/_markdownify.py
+++ b/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/converters/_markdownify.py
@@ -33,6 +33,10 @@ def convert_a(self, el: Any, text: str, convert_as_inline: bool):
         prefix, suffix, text = markdownify.chomp(text)  # type: ignore
         if not text:
             return ""
+
+        if el.find_parent("pre") is not None:
+            return text
+
         href = el.get("href")
         title = el.get("title")