Hi sister Sagoli! I’m so glad we escaped!
You make really good points here that remind me of my cousin. She was pregnant at 17 or so, not married, and the family consensus was that she was the vessel for the soul that was meant for my aunt, who was infertile.
Cousin ended up having an abortion (she was not Mormon), and was hated for it by many of the family. It was just unquestioned truth that her role was to have that baby and give it to her step-mom, and no one understood why she wouldn’t just go along with that plan.
My aunt was judged by the other women for not being fertile enough to “keep her covenant” in her marriage, and I know she was desperate to make the whole plan happen to redeem her worth. So much sadness on both sides of that story.
For my part, it wasn’t until a couple of years later that I read the Handmaid’s Tale and realized how fucked up that whole situation had been. I left the church not long after that.
