Neither marginal nor secret, contracting surrogate mothers is growing rapidly and is regarded as socially progressive. Yet the “process” is vitiated from the get go, i.e., commissioning a woman to bear, birth, and surrender a baby. Surrogacy undermines a woman’s human dignity. It makes her an instrument in other people’s project and attacks her equal… Read more »

Nadine is banished to a home for unwed mothers in 1950. She’s 15. Her baby daughter, whose father is shrouded in secrecy, is put up for adoption without her permission. Vowing to reunite one day with her daughter, she cuts all ties with her dysfunctional Irish and French-Canadian Catholic family whose past is cluttered with… Read more »

Quebec spoils its families, according to some, with those “long” parental leaves—a full year for mothers (Imagine!)—well-subsidized childcare and more. Marilyse Hamelin challenges that restrictive view. But she adds that although progress has been made compared to other places in North America, stop-gap measures are not the answer. Women deserve and expect more. And the… Read more »