The women in this book may be among the last to have babies without the
medical stamp of approval.
Today's society demands physical perfection from all and regards medical
and scientific technologies as saviours to be embraced whatever the
cost. To have a child who has been diagnosed with a disability is deemed
not just unnecessary, but careless and even immoral.
Defiant Birth tells the courageous stories of women who continued
their pregnancies despite intense pressure from doctors, family members
and social expectations. These women were told they shouldn't have their
babies because of a perceived imperfection in the child, or because
their own disabilities do not fit within the parameters of what a mother
should be. In the face of silent disapproval and open hostility, they
have confronted the stigma of disability and had their children anyway.
Some of the writers tell of grave misdiagnosis, others of life-changing
experiences, discovering the joy and love in children considered
unworthy of life.
Melinda Tankard Reist dares to expose how eugenics is practised today,
and how it is condoned, even expected, by mainstream society. More than
ever before, doctors are diagnosing babies in the womb as less than
perfect. But what if the 'cure' they offer will end the child's life?
