Letter: Coping with infertility

Sir: By definition, an instinct is an urge common to every member of the same gender of the same species.

Some people choose not to have children. Thus the argument of Richard Sambrook (letter, 15 May), based on 'how powerful is the instinct to have children', is false.

Persons who lack essential confidence in themselves may desperately want to achieve what others have achieved, from children to a new-looking car. But one's maternalism can be satisfied by nursing or nurturing anyone at all.

Yours faithfully,

KATHLEEN MANNING

Huntly, Aberdeenshire