motherhood is a choice

definitionsThe word mother can be an adjective, noun or verb. Pro choose to define the adjective, as in mother ship and mother country. This has nothing to do with motherhood as he defined it: the state of being a mother (noun). Using Pro's source (1), mother (noun) is a female parent. motherhood is the defaultMore than four of every five women become mothers, and this is consistent across populations (2-4). Motherhood is the default. At the population level, motherhood is an inevitability. The UN Declaration of Human Rights (5) lists founding a family as a fundamental right (Article 16(2)), and, further, that "motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance" (Article 25(2)). choiceOf course, any discussion of choice only applies young, childless women. Women who are already mothers and women above a certain age are locked into their state of motherhood or childlessness. Consider a female unit, W1. She is 28 years old, happily married, a bit bored at work, and surrounded by friends with children. Her parents are longing for grandchildren and, most importantly, her self-esteem is tied up with her perception of herself as a loving, generous person. If, as everyone expects, she becomes a mother it is an extension, an expression of her situation rather than a choice. For W1 to remain childless, there would need to be a strong, additional element. Perhaps she watched her own mother struggle to an early grave as she tried to care for W1s younger siblings. Perhaps she has a medical condition that would make bearing a healthy child difficult. Perhaps her husband, whom she adores, loathes children, or already has too many, or is dying of cancer. No doubt, with better knowledge, we could express it mathematically. For the population, distribution of motherhood/childlessness for each unit W could be expressed as a function of various biological, psychological, social and other situational factors. The result would need to reflect the reality: the majority of situations lead to motherhood, the default. Indeed, if anything is a choice, it is childlessness. But even this, a consistent minority of women, is not a result of choice but of circumstance. bigotryConsider the following statements:Homosexuality is a choice. Heroin use is a choice. Islam is a choice. These statements are an indication of bigotry against those respective groups. The implication is that there is a possible alternative, which the individual could have (or even should have) selected. Not only that, the statements imply that the individuals purposefully deviated from social norms and by doing so are solely responsible for any consequences. For us to name homosexuality, heroin use or Islam as "choices", we must create an alternative - a subjective and judgemental process. For homosexuality to be a choice, for example, we must imagine an alternative life, involving abstinence or heterosexuality, in which we believe the individual can live. Unlike that person's real life, our alternative is entirely fictional. Their is no reason, outside our imaginations, to think it even possible. This process is unfair an unrealistic. It involves making assumptions that falsely diminish the nature of sexual preference, addiction and religious belief. "Motherhood is a choice" is not a factual statement but a political one. It is not even trying to force individuals towards a norm because, as I showed above, motherhood is the norm. If motherhood is a "choice", then it is entirely reasonable to expect women, en masse, to be like men and not bear children. If they do "choose" motherhood, and, as a consequence take time off work and lose money, why then (the argument goes) it's a foreseeable outcome of their "choice" and they should just wear it without complaint. But motherhood is not a choice. It is a fundamental aspect of the human condition. (1) . http://dictionary.reference.com... (2) . http://www.abs.gov.au... (3) . http://www.oecd.org... (4) . http://www.census.gov... (5) . http://www.un.org...