People act as if it is utterly shocking that would-be Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis gave up custody of her children (this, after divorcing her second husband literally the day after he finished paying for her student debts). In our society, I suppose this would be surprising: women almost inevitably get custody of children after a divorce, in particular when one of the children in question is from a previous marriage; and it is a bit of an aberration for them to simply relinquish this custody for whatever reason. So in this sense, it is surprising that Wendy Davis' children are being raised solely by her ex-husband [1].
I however, am not so shocked at this revelation. It means that Davis is one of the only women I've heard of who has managed to be somewhat consistent: yes to abortion for any reason at any stage, presumably no to infanticide, but women still need autonomy. Assuming that she does not believes that abortion takes a life--not a prerequisite to being an abortion supporter by any means--this means that she (and by extension, other "independent" women) must find some other way to pursue a career after having children. The solution to this dilemma without outright murdering the kids is to ditch the husband and then give him sole custody of the children.
By her leaving the kids with him she is basically admitting that he is a good man (or else condemning her own children to living with an abusive father--but see [1]). The whole thing seems awful on her part, but it is consistent with the political/moral position which she has presumably staked out for herself. It is just more fruit of the modern feminist movement, and not the worst fruit by any stretch.
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[1] Said husband really does look like the knight in shining armor in this whole story. One more reason why one wonders about Davis' decision to dump him.
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