Such a good question makes me a little sad. It is one of many stories I never asked my parents about and now I can’t. My mom died 30 years after my birth and there were so many questions we didn’t explore together. But, I do know this. My mom didn’t think she would have kids (she had 3!). She got married at 34 after having served in Korea as an army MASH nurse. I know that my birth was deeply welcomed and I was loved from conception to that first breath onward.
For myself, I chose not to have kids, and I had access to solid safe reproductive health care to uphold that choice! I decided to pursue being a radical activist as a young person – and a nurse – and remain an organizer for independent and nonpartisan political reform to this day.