It seems to me that as a society, we ought to accept that becoming a parent is a natural part of being human, and something that a majority of individuals will choose at some point in their life. No one should be punished for becoming a parent, any more than they should be punished for wanting to choose a mate, take a vacation, celebrate a religious holiday, visit ailing grandparents, whatever.
So if society accepts that parenting is a natural and reasonable thing to do, we ought to try to set up the world so that becoming a parent is more or less accommodated in the workforce. This involves appropriate regulations, sensible employers, and understanding co-workers.
Alas, we live in an imperfect world. But we ought to strive to do better – not pick on pregnant women / parents of young children because they have to balance two very important aspects of their lives.
It takes a village, and all that.
Addendum: YIKES. When I clicked on this thread, only the OP was visible (probably a glitch unless a whole slew of people have responded in the last 5 minutes). Now I see a lot of responses. So I have no idea if my commentary is even vaguely relevant to the direction the thread is going in. :eek: