Unto the woman He said, ‘Multiplying I multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, in sorrow dost thou bear children, and toward thy husband is thy desire, and he doth rule over thee.’ (Gen 3:16 YLT)

I believe that giving birth to children was always painful, but now, outside the garden, the pain and sorrow is increased. The Afghan mother will see her child taken by the Taliban.  The African-American mother will see her child lying on a Chicago sidewalk, killed by a stray bullet, the mother living in suburban white America will hear that her child has been killed in a school shooting, power quickly responds not with compassion, but a cry to protect their guns. The refugee mother, escaping gang violence in South America, arrives at the border only to see her child placed in a cage and taken away and used as a political pawn in the game of empire.

In the garden, the pain of childbirth was short-lived.  Now, outside the garden, in an evil world, the pain of motherhood for some can last a lifetime.