As a science journalist I’m reconsidering having kids. I’m not the only one

‘I have grown increasingly ambivalent about the prospect of raising children in an era of climate collapse. And I am not alone.’ Photograph: Alamy

Walking in the park the other day, I overheard a conversation between two women. “I’m running out of time, but I’m also not gonna be like, ‘I’m having a baby for the sake of having a baby,’” said the younger of the two. “One thing I would recommend,” replied the older woman, “if it’s an option: freeze your eggs.”

As a woman, you get to a certain age and babies – hypothetical, expected, realised – suddenly seem ubiquitous: in friendship circles, on social media, in targeted advertising for pregnancy tests and public health messages. But for women of my generation, the decision whether to have children feels more existentially fraught and morally complex than ever before.