Letter: Child choices

FOR once the estimable Suzanne Moore (27 March) has strayed over the line from provocative comment into smug self-congratulation. She talks about the choices she had made in having two children as a single woman and knowing how tough it is.

To get to her position on the economic ladder, which is what has made her choice possible, both her brilliant talent and fantastic good luck are essential. For her then to suggest we do what Jodie Foster did and go and have articial insemination is to add insult to injury. It's not the AID that makes Jodie exceptional, it's her wealth.

I know far too many women in the predicament she describes with such contempt to be able to accept her, for once, simplistic line of reasoning. They are bright, talented, hardworking women who do not whinge. And for the record, the proverbial Conran sofa features nowhere in any of these people's economies, most of whom, like myself, are one month's rent or mortgage away from destitution.

Am I really colluding with a backlash in hoping to have a child without losing my home, my pension, my bargaining power and every bit of independence I have fought for? With respect, Suzanne Moore never had to make that choice.

SUSANNAH PERRY

London E5