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First
time mother in her 40s, Juanita Philips speaks for many women when she says;
“I
left this [having a baby] late for a whole lot of reasons, but one big reason
was that I had a series of relationships and I did not meet men who wanted to
have children and get married”. Another woman adds;” “The man I chose to be
with for twelve years did not want to have children and they were my prime
reproductive years “ (“Maggie
Alderson, both mothers quoted in “Late Babies” by Sandra Mc Clean) Researchers
have found that; “Members of this generation do not choose a life course until
they reach their twenties- ten years later than for previous generations.. This
ten year gap may be lamentable for the many women wanting children. If these
women find a mate at all, it may be too late.. The
pattern set for hundreds of years now seems permanently altered. Childlessness
is the tidal wave of the future. According to the Census Bureau in 1998, 42.2%
of all women were childless. If this trend continues, and all indications are
that it will, childless women will very
soon be the norm, not the exception” (The Childless Revolution” by Madelyn
Cain Perseus Publishing 2001). The norm for our, in
global terms, abnormal society, but profoundly abnormal from point of view of
our innate God-given human nature.