Through these mothers’ experiences, Donath invites us not only to conclude that society should be making motherhood less difficult, but also that the expectation laid on women to become mothers is overdue a rewrite. Some women’s regret “indicates that there are other roads that society forbids women from taking, by a priori erasing alternative paths, such as nonmotherhood.” If we were to restore these forbidden paths, it is not guaranteed that the sky would fall on our heads. Perhaps we might even avoid many tragedies, much pointless suffering and much wasted energy. And we might see the
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