There's a cold, far reaching cruelty in forced birth. It's a practice that ignores the inherent personhood of not only the mother, but of the unwanted child brought into the world.
The mother faces the often painful, disfiguring, and sometimes fatal pregnancy of birth. I've written before about how non-consensual pregnancy this is akin to torturing a person for nine months. And then she faces the rest of her life either caring for this child she did not seek and was forced to have, or the emotional turmoil of surrendering this child to the tender mercies of adoption businesses or the underfunded state agencies.
This child, on the other hand, starts life in a miserable position. Unwanted. Possibly unloved. How is this child supposed to thrive when raised by someone who was forced to have them? How can they reach their full potential when dropped in the foster care system? What damage does learning they were given up for adoption cause?
The wanton disregard for the wellbeing of both a mother forced to give birth, and a child who will grow up unwanted is a cruelty I cannot fathom. For this and many other reasons, I am writing a letter a day until we end forced birth by writing reproductive freedom into law.