But this new pregnancy, which began 18 months later, is occurring in a different setting, in the context of #MeToo. Pregnancy and birth experiences do not exist outside the greater culture, but firmly within, along an ugly, interminable continuum. Pregnant women over 35 are of “advanced maternal age”, just a slight improvement over the previous term, only recently defunct: “elderly”. “Fine, you can expect to be on bed rest for the rest of this pregnancy.”This was punishment, I felt, for pushing back: four months’ confinement. One cannot compare two treatments of the same pregnancy, nor can one experiment on pregnant women.

Source: The Guardian March 17, 2018 09:00 UTC