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And please remember that even a “normal” pregnancy can exact a heavy toll on the mother, physical and financial. My back hurts constantly, but even worse when

And please remember that even a “normal” pregnancy can exact a heavy toll on the mother, physical and financial. My back hurts constantly, but even worse when I pick up my much-desired child. He’s over 25 lbs now, and I dread what the next years until he’s able to climb up into an acceptable car seat on his own are going to be like. I work part-time, and thank heavens Germany made my pre-pregnancy employer give me that option. One of the major factors in MLM prevalence in the US are the absolutely abysmal job prospects for anyone who can’t work full time - that is, many mothers of young children. My friends with preschool age kids who work full time only manage it because they have expensive daycare open from 7am - 6pm, pay nannies, and/or have spouses with less-intense (or no) jobs. This, of course, is only realistic for women with well-paid jobs. And if one of you wants to respond, “adoption,” please remember the aforementioned physical wreckage, plus work-related difficulties. Germany encouraged my employer to let me stay home the six weeks before my due date and insisted I do so the right weeks after the birth, all at just about my previous net pay. I don’t think that “slavery” is too strong a word for forcing someone to go through with an unwanted pregnancy, but others can call it “indentured servitude” if that makes them feel better.

ModernMech 4y ago
> I don’t think that “slavery” is too strong a word for forcing someone to go through with an unwanted pregnancy, Whereas enslaved men were often forced to work fields in America, enslaved women were forced to give birth to their rapists’ babies. Forced birth and slavery go hand in hand. Fitting now that the New Confederate States of America (read: Gilead) can be distinguished by how eager legislatures are to force women to give birth to their rapists’ babies.
- MandieD 4y ago
  And like the Old Confederacy, the New Confederacy also sees nothing wrong with forcing women to give birth only to take the baby away. Oh, sure, giving the baby up for adoption is “voluntary,” but how voluntary can it be in a country that doesn’t pay maternity leave and doesn’t effectively subsidize daycare? I, a married and well-paid IT worker, got 1800 EUR/mo for a year away from work and pay a bit over 400 EUR/mo for daycare from 7am-4pm (not quite enough to really work full time, but that’s another discussion). Until the US is at least there, adoption is not really a free, uncompelled choice in forced-birth states like Texas. I have a dear childhood friend whose birth mother was a college student who went through with the results of a foolish accident. I’m glad she did, because I love my friend, but I’m also glad that it was her choice to make; in late 70s Austin, she could have easily gotten an abortion. She was able to choose the adoptive parents, and got what she wanted for her baby: a well-off but childless Catholic family just far enough away to be unlikely to accidentally meet.

ModernMech 4y ago

> I don’t think that “slavery” is too strong a word for forcing someone to go through with an unwanted pregnancy, Whereas enslaved men were often forced to work fields in America, enslaved women were forced to give birth to their rapists’ babies. Forced birth and slavery go hand in hand. Fitting now that the New Confederate States of America (read: Gilead) can be distinguished by how eager legislatures are to force women to give birth to their rapists’ babies.

MandieD 4y ago
And like the Old Confederacy, the New Confederacy also sees nothing wrong with forcing women to give birth only to take the baby away. Oh, sure, giving the baby up for adoption is “voluntary,” but how voluntary can it be in a country that doesn’t pay maternity leave and doesn’t effectively subsidize daycare? I, a married and well-paid IT worker, got 1800 EUR/mo for a year away from work and pay a bit over 400 EUR/mo for daycare from 7am-4pm (not quite enough to really work full time, but that’s another discussion). Until the US is at least there, adoption is not really a free, uncompelled choice in forced-birth states like Texas. I have a dear childhood friend whose birth mother was a college student who went through with the results of a foolish accident. I’m glad she did, because I love my friend, but I’m also glad that it was her choice to make; in late 70s Austin, she could have easily gotten an abortion. She was able to choose the adoptive parents, and got what she wanted for her baby: a well-off but childless Catholic family just far enough away to be unlikely to accidentally meet.