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In her book Knowing Woman, Irene Claremont de Castillejo writes: Woman, who is so intimately and profoundly concerned with life, takes death in her stride. For her, to rid herself of an unwanted foetus is as much in accord with nature as for a cat to refuse milk to a weakling kitten. It is man who has evolved principles about the sacredness of life β¦ and women have passionately adopted them as their own. But principles are abstract Womanβs basic instinct is not concerned with the idea of life, but with the fact of life. The ruthlessness of nature which discards unwanted life is deeply ingrained in her.
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Ursula K. Le Guin (Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places)