Jamie Huddleston <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> At the risk of making some of you upset, I just have to say that I think
> whether a breastfeeding mother is seperated from her child in the Texas case
> is secondary to how these women have been treated leading up to the 
> removal from the ranch.  Let's not forget that these women have been 
> mistreated, manipulated by their husbands, have been forced to marry men
> three times their own age as soon as they reach puberty and have been
> forced to bear many children.  Not to mention that the children sometimes
> don't know who their biological mother or father is!

That is absolutely no reason for the State to compound the abuse of both
the young women and their babies. Punishing women and girls for
reporting rape and abuse can only lead to _fewer women and girls
reporting rape and abuse_.

This is so blindingly obvious to me that I am astonished more people
aren't seeing it.

If you were being abused but were not in a life-threatening situation,
and you KNEW that if you reported it the State would remove your baby
(nursing or not) from you - what would you do? 

How can you "empower women to think for themselves" when the people who
are supposed to rescue them from abuse plunge them into a situation they
may well feel is much, much worse, and one their babies may never truly
recover from?

Lara Hopkins

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