Honoring Missed Motherhood: Loss, Choice and Creativity
Roughly 75 percent of women in the U.S. fall into one or more of these categories of missed motherhood, although many have a child at some point.
by Kani Comstock in collaboration with Barbara Comstock —
Millions of women go through life hiding or denying the feelings that result from the loss of a pregnancy through miscarriage or abortion, the inability to conceive, giving up a child for adoption or the choice not to have children.
Roughly 75 percent of women in the U.S. fall into one or more of these categories of missed motherhood, although many have a child at some point.
Rather than being able to explore and express their feelings and receive the support needed to integrate their losses and create joyful lives, these women often suffer in silence.
The authors, who are sisters, use their own experiences and those of 12 other women as a starting point for a much larger story.
Their healing journeys are followed by specific steps that readers can take to create a culture of understanding and support so countless women can move out of the closet, grieve their losses, experience their wholeness and move into joy.
Women who choose not to have children should be supported in the same way as those who become mothers and those who cannot conceive.
We need a cultural understanding and structure that allows and encourages the healing journeys to be shared and supported. This book is a step toward that goal.
$16 — Willow Press, 241 Village Park Drive, Ashland, OR 97520.
Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 33, Number 5, October/November 2014.
October 3, 2014
Book review, October/November 2014 Issue