In this excerpt translated from an article published in Spanish by CIDAL (apdo. 42-A, Cuernavaca, Mor Mexico), a documentation centre concerned with the promotion of women in Latin America which a/so publishes a bulletin, the author argues for a thoughtful consideration of the "why" of motherhood, and, in a section not reproduced here, urges the recognition of the unique relationship between a mother and each child.

If it is impossible to be a mother unless one is the mother of someone, it is also impossible to take up motherhood unless, to begin with, I am someone. Before everything, I have to be. I say this knowing that in this moment, in this year, there are many women who do not exist, who are no one , women who think they can fill their lives, integrate themselves by having a child.

I would like to say to these women "You don't have to have a child. You do a terrible injustice to the child if you use him/her as a means to an end. You do an injustice to yourselves a s well, because your life will be full of restlessness instead of experience, growth, meaning." I would like to say to women in general that if they decide to become mothers only because of the lack in their lives, only to save themselves from frightening emptiness, they will be mothers only in t he biological sense . Motherhood is more than a biological fact; it is a relationship between two persons. We have to recognize this fact : that motherhood is a new dimension of a pre-existing person... Motherhood is not a thing in itself; I am a person who fulfils the function of mother but above all I have to be myself... When a woman who is a person decide s to be a mother, she continues being a person — a person who is also a mother.