“A mother does not become pregnant in order to provide employment to medical people. Giving birth is an ecstatic jubilant adventure not available to males. It is a woman's crowning creative experience of a lifetime.”

“Ordering a man to write a poem is like commanding a pregnant woman to give birth to a red-haired child.”

“Some women just want the experience of being pregnant, giving birth, and breastfeeding. For many women, these are vital bonding experiences." (p. 274: in her own sweet time)”

“The techno-medical model of maternity care, unlike the midwifery model, is comparatively new on the world scene, having existed for barely two centuries. This male-derived framework for care is a product of the industrial revolution. As anthropologist Robbie Davis-Floyd has described in detail, underlying the technocratic mode of care of our own time is an assumption that the human body is a machine and that the female body in particular is a machine full of shortcomings and defects. Pregnancy and labor are seen as illnesses, which, in order not to be harmful to mother or baby, must be treated with drugs and medical equipment. Within the techno-medical model of birth, some medical intervention is considered necessary for every birth, and birth is safe only in retrospect.”

“You are pregnant with possibilities! Give birth now and be powerful.”

“A woman wears many hats in one lifetime -- why shouldn't one of them be a crown?”