Reply #116: Brava, Nicole [View All]

[Tansy_Gold]

I was lucky in one respect -- never a moment of morning sickness.

For any man to say "Nine months is nothing compared to 18 years of child support," shall we ask him which he would rather be, pregnant or just writing out a check once a month?

Pregnancy is an enormous life experience -- physically, emotionally, financially, culturally. My children were both born in the mid-1970s, when almost every other woman I knew was either pregnant, had small children, or was jealous of those who were. Two of my friends who had given birth within a few months of each other faced divorce within a year, because their husbands were so disappointed that their wives weren't "back to normal" -- meaning sexually -- right after giving birth.

Another endured three pregnancies in two and a half years and nearly died. Only when faced with the very real possibility of raising three children without a mother did her husband agree to let her have a tubal ligation. (No vasectomy for him, good Catholic that he was, lest something happen to her and he not be able to father other children with a new wife.)

Once again, the risks of pregnancy -- not parenthood -- are borne only by the woman. She ALONE should have the choice of terminating it.