I have never understood the people who would judge such a choice harshly, though I have met plenty of them.

They speak of dignity, of not selling oneself, of some pristine principle that a woman should never marry except for love.

It is easy to hold such fine principles when your own child is not the one dying.

Principles are a luxury, like absurdity, that time and safety afford.

Take away the safety, put a sick child’s life in the balance, and watch how quickly the fine principles rearrange themselves into the one principle that actually matters, which is that you will do whatever it lawfully takes to keep your child alive.

There is no shame in a mother saving her son.