We’re taught that every woman has a maternal instinct, that motherhood will somehow come naturally, and that having children is what makes a woman complete.

But not every woman wants to be a mother. Not every woman enjoys motherhood. And not every woman is equipped for the demands of parenting.

That doesn’t make her selfish, defective, or less of a woman. It makes her human.

And perhaps the most damaging part of this mythology is the assumption that a woman who doesn’t want children will magically change once she gives birth.

Children deserve to be wanted, and women deserve lives that don’t require motherhood to have meaning.

The maternal instinct should never be used as an argument against reproductive choice.