From the SFLA Blog

Corporate Attacks on Motherhood: Erasing Moms & Discouraging Future Families  

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Caroline Wharton - 28 Apr 2023

As Mother’s Day is quickly approaching, you know what that calls for — and if your answer was ‘a Hallmark card and a bouquet,’ take a seat, silly goose. This year, the anti-family and pro-abortion corporate world is taking a different stance on the holiday that literally everyone should be able to celebrate (we all came from somewhere, right?), and that is, namely, to ignore motherhood altogether. Here’s how several industries are attempting to erase the importance of Mom:  

Forced to Endure Ads on Everything Else, Mother’s Day Gets an Exception   

Spam folders were created for a reason: to catch those annoying promotional emails from companies exploiting major celebrations and events to make more money. From widely recognized holidays like Christmas to athletic events like Final Four basketball games to those obscure national celebration days (for example, April 27 is ‘National Prime Rib Day’…woohoo?), companies push out special promotions that may or may not apply to their consumer base. 

Many of us immediately click delete on emails such as these and wish we could be passed over for certain promotions. If you’re a vegetarian, you might not appreciate promotions regarding the celebratory day of a meat cut and want to opt-out, but it usually just doesn’t work that way.  

Things are changing, however, for the highly ecumenical Mother’s Day as some companies are now giving that opportunity by allowing customers to choose if they want to receive Mother’s Day themed material. These corporations include DoorDash, Etsy, Fry’s Food Stores (owned by the grocery store Kroger’s), Hallmark, Kay’s Jewelers, Levi Strauss & Co., and Nestle’s Nespresso.  

While we’re all about getting less junk emails, it does feel a bit strange that this isn’t an option across the board; why the singling out of Mother’s Day? Several of these companies have claimed it’s due to the fact that “this can be a difficult time of year for some.” While many can empathize with that, a lot of holidays can be a difficult time of year. After losing a family member, for example, the ensuing holidays (no matter what they are) can be painful reminders of their absence. With this being the case, why aren’t companies always offering an opt-out?  

With apparent discrimination, it’s easy to see why many are calling this out, including Students for Life of America (SFLA) President Kristan Hawkins who labelled this as yet another “attack on women and mothers.”  

Freeze Your Eggs To Show Workplace Fidelity on Wall Street  

Some women choose to prioritize their career before motherhood for a time by freezing their eggs. Others feel pressured to do so by employers — and a recent article at the New York Post suggests that financial services companies such as Morgan Stanley and Bank of America might be an example of this.  

The author Charles Gasparino wrote, “Fertility coverage, aka “egg freezing,” has been hailed as the latest breakthrough benefit for women to break through Wall Street’s very thick glass ceiling…but recently, a counter-narrative has begun to emerge that egg freezing isn’t such a great perk after all. Rather…it’s a subtle form of corporate coercion placed upon young women who may have concerns about the not-insignificant health risks involved or have religious objections. They feel compelled to freeze their eggs and put off pregnancy to demonstrate their fealty to their job and the organization in hopes of advancing up the corporate ladder.”  

As an example, Gasparino spoke with a 26-year-old female executive with Morgan Stanley who told him, “Everybody knows this is what you need to do to show management you are committed to the company and that you will push off having a family many years down the road.”  

A 30-year-old Bank of America executive confirmed feeling the same way, stating: “There’s definitely a silent pressure coming from management.”  

Such pressure is concerning for several reasons. First, freezing your eggs comes with health risks that many women are unaware of, such as the development of severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (which women in their early twenties are at even higher risk). Second, while you may have frozen eggs, you can’t freeze your entire body in time.  

The pro-abortion American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists finds that age does affect fertility. They state, “More and more people are delaying having children until their late 30s or 40s. But as you age, so do your ovaries and the eggs inside them…A woman’s peak reproductive years are between the late teens and late 20s. By age 30, fertility (the ability to get pregnant) starts to decline.”  

As one in eight couples in the United States today experience infertility, it is wrong for companies to pressure women to put off having a family in favor of their career. There are no guarantees in life that we are given children, and the longer we wait, the harder it is for that to happen. Women need to be aware of this — not manipulated — because a job (even with the best co-workers and biggest bank account) can never replace the gift of family.  

As we approach Mother’s Day this year, celebrate women’s unique opportunity to be mothers and the intrinsic joy that comes with this role. In a culture that demeans motherhood, uplift those who are pregnant and parenting — and remind women who want to be called “Mom” that that is a noble, important desire.   

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