Sometimes, we do not win.

You can fight and be fierce and never surrender your power...and still not win. Sometimes they are stronger, sometimes they have power you do not. Sometimes, they take what is yours from you, without your consent. You still need to fight- we are counting on you. Your children, your partner, your self, are all counting on you. You can be loud, or quiet, you can fight actively or resist passively, whatever suits your heart and the situation.

Our world is one that does not respect the autonomy of women as mothers.

When we are pregnant, we are offered threats and fear tactics. We are not given evidence based health care.

When we are birthing, we are cut- more than 1 in 4 of us are cut. We are threatened with the lives of our babies. We are not given evidence based health care.

Some of us choose midwives, who are threatened by the medical system as well. Increasingly, they cannot provide evidence based care, when they must answer to the traditional standards of care provided by OB/GYNs.

Wishing to avoid those threats, some of us choose freebirth. We are threatened with the removal of our children from our homes. We are punished when we seek appropriate care from mainstream practitioners.

We try to breastfeed our babies- most of us do not succeed in breastfeeding them to recommendation. We struggle to receive proper care in a system that does not want us to nurse our babies.

If any of the above sound extreme, they are. Some of us have great experiences, others are raped, abused, punished, lied to. Some of us go home with no baby, victim of the infant mortality rates. Some of us do not go home, victim of the maternal mortality rates.

As long is it is happening to one, it is happening to us all. It is happening to us all. We need to fight- quietly or loudly, with the weapons we have at hand- the love for our children, our sisters, our friends, our selves.