Stop Asking Women If They Want Children

These are questions that most women get asked starting from a very young age – and the questions get more frequent as pervasive as they get older. Asking questions like these instill in young women the message that motherhood and womanhood go hand in hand; that a woman is incomplete until she fulfills her duty of rearing children.

 

Not only is this untrue, but the assumption is dangerous. It diminishes a woman’s autonomy and doesn’t even consider the fact that some women may want to have babies, but struggle due to infertility. 

For many women, infertility is one of the most heartbreaking things they could experience. Just imagine wanting to experience pregnancy, childbirth, nursing, and all the other miracles that come with becoming a mother – and you can’t.

 

Women who struggle with infertility often feel “broken” because they have been raised to believe that motherhood is not a choice, but a requirement – their bodies are not doing what they are “meant” to do. Of course, a woman is not “broken” if she cannot get pregnant. There is no wrong way to build a family, whether that is through natural processes, IVF, surrogacy, or adoption.

 

Asking a woman when she is going to have babies could be just another painful reminder that she’s been trying to but has not been successful yet.

Who says that a woman has to have babies, anyway? Maybe she wants to build a life with just herself and her partner; maybe she wants to remain single with a pack of dogs at home; maybe a combination of both! Or neither…

 

Bottom line, what a woman chooses to do with her body and future is none of anyone else’s business. 

Saba^® always has been, and always will be, a champion for women’s right to choose their destiny. Join us in observing infertility awareness week with a commitment to stop asking women if they want children.