大象传媒

Mothering Sunday, Mother鈥檚 Day, might be a key date for the greeting card market, for florists and confectioners but it can also be a nightmare, a time of acute anguish for people oppressed by the fact that they鈥檙e childless.

On All Things Considered this week, Roy Jenkins discusses how sensitively such would-be parents are treated. What about couples who choose never to have children?聽聽 And to what extent can faith communities, which often place great emphasis on children and family, either help or hinder people facing dilemmas in this area?

Roy is joined by Professor Robert Winston, the fertility expert whose pioneering work has helped large numbers of couples to start families; The Rev Karen Jobson is a Methodist minister and mental health chaplain on Merseyside; Paul Francis, senior leader of Glenwood Church in Cardiff and Dr Dawn Llewellyn, senior lecturer in Christian Studies at the University of Chester, whose research focusses on childless Christian women.