And I'm glad that there are other people who understand the value of that freedom:
"So let’s be clear about this. Women sometimes have sex out of wedlock. That does not make them sluts. That makes them human – just like men, who also have been known to have sex out of wedlock. But when contraception is not available, women are the ones who end up bearing children and, all too often, raising them on their own. That’s one reason why birth control ought to be widely available. It gives women, unmarried and married, the freedom to control their bodies and their lives – freedoms that most men take for granted." ~ Jonathan Cohn, The New Republic
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Women who repeatedly undergo pregnancy and childbirth set themselves up for multiple problems that can range from uterine rupture to gallbladder disease to nutritional deficiencies, some experts caution.
The more babies a woman has, the higher the risk of postpartum bleeding," says Dr. Michael Abrahams, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Patients Medical, a private facility in Manhattan, who also has a private practice in Brooklyn. "The muscle fibers of the uterus just aren't as elastic, so they don't contract as efficiently during labor."
Women who have "well beyond the usual number of babies" also run the risk of having a premature baby, says Dr. Thomasena Ellison, residency program educational director at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. That's because the part of the cervix responsible for holding in the baby simply weakens with each pregnancy, she explains.
In addition, the mother's stores of iron and other nutrients become depleted after multiple pregnancies.
"There's just no time to build up in between the pregnancies," Ellison says. "The woman's body is exhausted."
Pregnancy also aggravates any issues a woman may have with dental problems, Ellison says. "If you have any cavities or disease, pregnancy makes it worse," she says.
I have been wondering about the attitude that innocent children need to be victimized by being forced upon women who have responsibly understood that they are not in a good position to take care of a child as punishment for what is not meant to be a punishable offense.