“First they came for the breech birthers, and I did not speak out–because I was not a breech birther;
Then they came for the twins, and I did not speak out–because I was not carrying twins;
Then they came for the high risk women, and I did not speak out-because I was not a high risk woman;
Then they came for the VBACs, and I did not speak out– because I was not a VBAC;
Then they came for me– and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
Taken from a talk by Laureen Hudson of California at the Trust Birth Conference (March 2010).
Inspired by this famous quote by Martin Neimoller:
In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me –
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
Great version I love it thank you for sharing, the first version I seen came from the empowered birth blog on titled why we must stand together. http://empoweredbirth.typepad.com/empowering_birth_blog/2008/06/why-we-must-stand-together.html
very powerful! this gave me goose bumps.
Thank you! This is exactly what I needed to read right now. I am seeing so many friends making uninformed decisions when it comes to birthing and circumcision. I spend a lot of time reading and learning about birth but I have never given birth so I have felt strange speaking up about it. I am still trying to find a way to give information without making someone feel blamed for thier choices and this helps alot.
How very true. We could add the ones who decide to “come to them”. I hope there will be more and more women making an INFORMED choice. Thank you for getting me educated Gloria!
Thanks for the post. It is a hard thing for me to speak it out. I have spent years doing the things, which also took a lot of bucking the system. But speaking out I have not done much of thinking no one would want to hear….