“For the past 19 months, I have been immersed in the sacred experience of breastfeeding my son. There is not a day that goes by that I am not aware of how lucky I am. That my body has responded to the birth of my child exactly as nature intended, producing the hormones and milk necessary for me to provide my boy with all he needs, is nothing short of mind-blowing. And although it has not always been easy— I have battled 3 rounds of horrifyingly painful mastitis— it is something for which I will remain forever grateful.
Although not every mother chooses to breastfeed, it is widely understood that it is her right to do so for the simple reason that the child is hers and she can care for him/her as she sees fit. Yet this is a right grossly denied to animal mothers exploited by the dairy industry.
Why do we so willfully defend our mistreatment of and cruelty to some mothers and their children while fighting for the rights of others?
I can say with great conviction that I would rather die before having my child ripped from me and my milk stolen and sold as a commodity. But this is the sad reality of the dairy industry. And to anyone who may feel my comparison goes too far, I will respectfully respond that while we are still forcefully impregnating animals of other species only to steal and kill their babies for whom the milk is intended, I haven’t even begun to go far enough.”
