Update on an old post

Very early on in my blogging career, last November, I wrote this post about an Aboriginal woman who abducted a newborn baby from a hospital in Sudbury, in northern Ontario. When I first heard about the case, I found myself praying, not only for the baby's safety, but also that the kidnapper wasn't some crazed bereaved or infertile woman. After all, don't people think we're crazy enough as it is without worrying that we're going to take off with their child??

But I was right. She had recently lost a baby. :(

That was in November. I spotted this article in the National Post yesterday, saying that she'd been sentenced to five years in prison (the Crown was aiming for seven). Her lawyer is planning to file an appeal. Here's another article about the case from CTV News.)

I was particularly struck by two paragraphs in the story:

"In August, 2007, Batisse lost a pregnancy after being assaulted but pretended to be pregnant to preserve her relationship with the baby's father. She said she eventually felt pressured to produce a baby." (emphasis mine)

And this sentence:

"I want to apologize, especially to the mother," Batisse said. "My intention was never to hurt anyone. I know what I did was wrong. But in my head that day, I wasn't that person. I don't know who I was. I just wanted my baby back."

Of course, pregnancy loss is no excuse for snatching someone else's baby. Much as we are baby-obsessed &/or grief-stricken, 99.99% of bereaved &/or infertile women would never do such a thing.

But I still think that this story reflects (in part) the societal pressures women (still) face to procreate, the beating that our self-esteem takes when we're not able to do that, and the lack of support and understanding that surrounds the issues of pregnancy loss & infertility.