This is not aout what the mother wants to do...

[ellid]

Which could be controlled just as easily with the Pill. However, whatever happened to the word "uterus"????

It's rather like the word "mother," which has been almost entirely replaced by "mom" in the news, even when referring to the mothers of grown children....

Comments

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

Thinking back to my one year on the HS newspaper, we used shorter words b/c they fit better in the space for the headline, usually. It's like "tot" instead of "child." Granted, online this should not be an issue...

[baronessmartha.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I like the word uterus. I know what I mean, the MD and nurses know what I mean.

[froda-baggins.livejournal.com]

Weird. British news tends to use the word "womb" I've seen, but I assumed that was more of a Britishism.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

Well, it *is* a British story.... possibly written by a Brit?

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I would assume that the story has been taked from a British news agency source, and that in this case the British source has used womb because that's the standard word, with uterus reserved for scientific discourse of the sort where one would refer to the breasts as mammary glands*. There may be an emotional blackmail element involved in the choice of CNN to retain the word for a US audience, but not in the original use.

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

What's wrong with the word "womb"? Don't the two mean the same thing?

[ellid.livejournal.com]

True...but it's sort of like saying someone with stomach cancer will have a "belly transplant," at least to me...

[kaiz.livejournal.com]

No clue why they're using "womb" instead of uterus, seems rather...er...archaic!


However re. what the mother wants to do...not everyone can take hormonal birth control. Since the daughter is disabled, perhaps she has some kind of additional medical condition than the cerebral palsy that will preclude taking it?

[ellid.livejournal.com]

You have a valid point. The Pill or Norplant might well interfere with other medications.

[ladypeyton.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that the pill might very well bring with it a host of uncomfortable side effects which could make her feel worse.

I know it made me throw up.

[shalandara.livejournal.com]

Womb stirs up images of child bearing. Uterus does not. I think they were trying to highlight the point that the mother is going to make it so her child cannot have children, rather than highlight the position of the mother in that this has nothing to do with child-bearing and eveything to do with her daughter's quality of life.

[kaiz.livejournal.com]

Good point; womb is one of those rather warm/fuzzy/big-eyed kittens/rainbows kind of words.

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

I would have liked more details on the severity of the lass's cerebral palsy.

I have a paternal aunt who is mentally retarded and know she's been on the pill since the 1970s. My grandparents acknowledged the vulnerability of their daughter in an institution and acted responsibly.

Depending on the severity of the lass's CP and the propensity for the women in her family to have severe menstrual issues, I might consider a hysterectomy a valid option. But the article left a lot of questions unanswered.

Is the mother worried that her child will need to be placed in an institution at some point? (Is the mother older and ailing?)

This isn't the sort of thing that ought to gbe given as short a shrift as it's gotten because, really, this is a very private matter. It's the sort of thing that ought to be considered on a case by case basis.

**has flashbacks to some particularly creepy scenes in Brimstone and Treacle** **shudders**

[briony530.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree with Shalandara (hello, I don't think we've met). Our (heavy sarcasm) liberal (end sarcasm) mainstream media is going for the emotional dig of "womb". Not primarily 'cause they want to stir up the whole fascination our society has on child bearing, but because doing that boosts their ratings. "Uterus" would have been the appropriate word...it's an organ, and that's what it's called in the medical books.