>
>
>I just do not understand the argument, made over and over that we 
>
>must respect a mother's right to make choices. "
>
Sorry, but I will continue to make that particular argument. I doubt 
there is anything that will convince me that we have any right not to 
respect anyone's choice.

I do not think it contradicts the following one; I think it reinforces it:

>I very militantly voiced to him that women may "want" certain things but
>it is the health care practitioners job to educate women about the pros/cons
>and risks of these interventions.  
>
I also think we can place limits on the kind of information that is 
presented to women -- we obviously want to make sure that hcps are not 
offering misguided, erroneous information, and neither should 
advertisers. But I think the best way of tackling this is to empower 
women to assess information and become aware of the underlying messages 
used by detractors.

We need to look closely at the reasons each mother has for making the 
decision she makes. I think that's what will keep us from making 
assumptions that we know what is right for others. Let's start, instead, 
with the idea that we really don't know anything important about most of 
the mothers we work with. We don't know how they were raised or which 
messages they internalized or what they think of their own abilities to 
make something good out of their lives. In fact, if I was going to start 
with any assumption, it would be that the mother has low self-esteem, is 
overwhelmed at the prospect of becoming responsible for another human 
being when she has never felt adequately cared for and respected.

Would we rather say we don't have to respect a mother's choices, that we 
don't really care why she is reacting as she is because she is wrong, 
and continue to deny women real power over their bodies and their lives?

Jo-Anne

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