It's unthinkable, and it's definitely unspeakable, but women all over the world are coming forward to say it: I regret having my children. Here's the thing about realising that you shouldn't have had kids," says Laura*, 37, a journalist based in Los Angeles. "You can't take the decision back." Laura once believed that she wanted to be a mother. She had little direct experience with children—no siblings young enough to need tending to, no babysitting jobs—and when she and her husband decided to start a family, she wondered if she knew enough about what that meant. "I asked some...