I had a long conversation about a decade ago with a female doctor (a fertility specialist) as we were each interested to hear what the other thought on some corresponding issues.
One thing she said that stuck with me, I suppose because it was a kind of unusual thing to say, is that:
“Girls need to realise that our fertility is a gift”.
Fertility is not a word our society uses much. Unless it’s an issue.
Like everything, when we have something, or until we want it, we don’t think about it and we take it for granted.
But try asking a woman who has tried for 10 years to conceive a child.
Try asking a woman who has lost her only child.
Try asking a woman who has had multiple miscarriages.
Try asking a woman who has had surgery or age remove her options.
Fertility is a gift.
We mess with it chemically and hormonally. Our society puts it at risk without explanation surgically through abortion. We assume it’s just going to be there when we choose to pick up that option. But it might not be. And if it is – it still has an expiry date. If you’re a woman who has had issues in this area, what do you wish you had known when you a young woman full of unnamed assumption and hopeful expectations? What do you think the daughters of this generation need to know?