A question for the girls.
We say choice a lot when it comes to reproduction.
Some choose to be childless
Some choose to have children
But with many mothers, was "choice" really involved?
My wife (and I) decide we didn't want children in our early twenties - but it took 6 years for the doctors to agree to sterilisation.
In previous generations, women didn't have access to reliable contraception so becoming pregnant was simply something that "happened"....they could chalk it up to good fortune (or bad luck) or god's will or whatever - but the fact that they had no control (other than abstinence) made it a non-issue for most of them.
Times have changed - thankfully. Most of the younger women I know have actually been able to sort of plan when they were ready to start their families - and some of them made a conscious choice to not have children at all. It really makes me angry to think this choice is slowly but surely being taken away from them.