Women Who Said No to Motherhood

A photographer in Berlin is capturing the lives of the consciously child-free.

Zoë Noble was 32 when her doctor told her “the clock is ticking.” The hysterectomy Ms. Noble needed to remove a fibroid was not up for discussion so far as her doctor was concerned, despite the fact that she didn’t want children. It took years of pain and an emergency room visit before she was finally granted the surgery at 37. The practice of a physician denying a patient surgery on the assumption that a woman will change her mind about wanting children is common.