Every day, public and private hospitals are filled with pregnant women. Maternity wards remain crowded, antenatal clinics overflow, and delivery rooms continue to receive more mothers regardless of the economic hardship, emotional stress, or health risks many of them already face.

This reality raises an uncomfortable but necessary question: why are so many women still pressured into continuous childbirth despite the growing challenges around them?

In many societies, motherhood is deeply tied to a woman’s value. A newly married woman is often expected to conceive almost immediately after marriage. Once the first child arrives, the questions begin again: “When is the second?” “You cannot stop at one.” “Your children need companions.” “You need more sons.” “Large families are blessings.”

Visiting the Osun State Hospital Asubiaro left me bewildered; the overcrowding in hospitals reflects more than population growth, it reflects the pressure placed on women’s bodies and lives. It reflects poor family planning conversations, lack of reproductive education, cultural expectations, and the belief that motherhood must come at any cost.

For many women, childbirth is no longer just a personal decision. It has become a societal expectation heavily influenced by culture, religion, family pressure, and marital demands. Sadly, while society celebrates childbirth, it often ignores the burden attached to it.

Many women continue to give birth repeatedly even when they are physically exhausted, emotionally drained, financially unstable, or living in difficult marriages. Some face complications from previous pregnancies yet are expected to continue reproducing. Others are silently struggling with postpartum depression, trauma, malnutrition, or lack of proper healthcare, but the cycle continues because society rarely asks how the mother is coping.

The burden of pregnancy on Nigerian women is reflected in the country’s alarming maternal health statistics. According to the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), about 64 percent of pregnant women in Nigeria are anaemic, with an average haemoglobin level of 10.4 g/dL, which is below the normal range expected during pregnancy. This means that nearly two out of every three pregnant women are already entering motherhood with insufficient healthy red blood cells to meet their body’s needs.

The situation appears even more severe in some parts of the country. A state-based study found that 76.5 percent of pregnant women were anaemic, affecting 80.6 percent of first-time mothers and 74.5 percent of women who had been pregnant before. Similarly, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 61 percent of Nigerian pregnant women suffer from anaemia.

The economic situation makes the conversation even more urgent. Raising children today is far more expensive than it was decades ago. Food prices continue to rise, healthcare is costly, school fees increase constantly, and many families are already struggling to survive. Yet women are still expected to continue bearing children regardless of whether the home is financially prepared.

In some homes, the responsibility of raising multiple children falls heavily on the woman while the support available to her remains limited. She becomes the caregiver, teacher, cook, emotional support system, and sometimes even the breadwinner at the same time.

Still, many women cannot openly refuse continuous childbirth because of the fear of being judged, abandoned, insulted, or labeled as “barren-minded,” disrespectful, or selfish.

Another painful reality is that society often focuses more on the baby than the mother. During pregnancy, everyone prays for safe delivery, but after childbirth, little attention is paid to the woman’s mental health, recovery, or future stability. Her sacrifices quickly become normalized.

This is not an argument against children or motherhood. Children are blessings, and many women genuinely desire large families. However, motherhood should happen through informed choice, emotional readiness, medical safety, and financial consideration not pressure and silent suffering.

This goes down to the Health care Support for Pregnant Women. The Doctors, Matrons and Nurses should counsel pregnant women on stress management (healthy sleep, moderate exercise, relaxation techniques) and the normal emotional changes of pregnancy. Encouraging open discussion about worries (financial, birth concerns) can reduce emotional exhaustion. Women should know that feeling very tired, sad, or anxious is common but treatable, not a personal weakness.

A woman should have the freedom to decide when her body needs rest. She should be able to prioritize her health without guilt. She should not feel reduced to a machine for reproduction while her dreams, well-being, and struggles are ignored.

Until society begins to value women beyond their ability to give birth, many women will continue to suffer quietly under expectations disguised as tradition and duty.

The question is no longer whether women can continue giving birth.

The real question is: At what cost to their health, peace, dreams, and survival?