History Main / MandatoryMotherhood

* In ''Literature/Seveneves'', the titular Seven Eves are women who [[ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts ride out the apocalypse on a space station]] without any men. They feel obligated to artificially impregnate themselves in order to continue the human race.

* ''VideoGames/PapersPlease'': Anyone employed by the communist regime, including your player character, is expected to maintain a large and healthy family. If all your other family members die due to sickness or starvation, [[NonStandardGameOver your game ends.]]

* The ''Literature/WarriorCats'' don't often touch on this but in ''Bluestar's Prophecy'', the title character is good with kits and raises her nephew after her sister's death but has no interest in having any of her own, [[spoiler: Although it doesn't work out this way in the end]]. Naturally one of the Clan elders tells her she needs to "live her own life" now that her sister's son is grown. [[SarcasmMode Because in order to live your own life, you have to have and raise children]].

* The ''Fanfic/TriptychContinuum'' side-story "Anchor Foal: A Romantic CringeComedy" plays with this. Because Fluttershy was essential to reforming [[MadGod Discord]] [[FluffyTamer through her ability to sincerely befriend him]], Celestia is naturally afraid that when Fluttershy dies, Discord will go back to his old ways, seeing as how he doesn't look like making any new friends of his own. So, she decides that for the good of Equestria, Fluttershy ''must'' have at least one foal, who will hopefully serve as an "anchor" to further tether Discord into staying reformed. The thing is, Fluttershy would probably ''like'' to have foals, it's just that she's too [[ShrinkingViolet terminally shy]] to have a hope of getting them. So, Celestia enlists Fleur de Lis to go to Ponyville and, essentially, teach Fluttershy to pick up stallions.

* ''Film/HellComesToFrogtown'' has the rare both-gender version, with protagonist Sam Hell one of the last fertile men coerced into both signing over his reproductive organs to MedTech and rescuing a handful of fertile women from the titular Frogtown.

Contrast ConvenientMiscarriage, which is, of course, on the opposite end of the LawOfInverseFertility. If the character is merely experiencing social pressure to have children but can still say no, she's on the receiving end of NotWantingKidsIsWeird. SubTrope of ChosenConceptionPartner. Frequently overlaps with BabyFactory.

** Onan was killed by God for refusing to have a child with Tamar, his dead brother's wife, as per the laws of levirate marriage (in short, he was required to marry his brother's wife and their first son would be his brother's, to continue on his brother's family line). Of course, he told her he ''would''(thus avoiding public shaming and being cast out of his family) and then performed ''coitus interruptus'' to prevent it.[[note]]However, many misinterpreted the text to mean that Onan preferred having ADateWithRosiePalms over actual sex, and in some cultures and languages, including Hebrew, [[NeverLiveItDown his name has become the basis]] for the [[PersonAsVerb modern word]] for ‘masturbation’.[[/note]]

** And then Paul, writing in the New Testament, subverted the blazes out of it by saying[[note]]I Cor. 7, mostly the second half[[/note]] it was fine for men ''and'' women not to marry, or marry, as they chose (though if "not", they were to abstain from sex). This could be because he expected the world to end within the next few decades ("time is short"), making populating the earth pointless; another interpretation (since the world ''didn't'' end) is that he was predicting the future persecution that the church would face at the hands of Rome, and an IHaveYourWife situation could make it that much more difficult for a person to choose to be a faithful martyr rather than to forsake Christianity. A third theory is that he is simply supporting other early christians who chose celibacy as an act of devotion.

* In ''Literature/{{Bumped}}'' by Megan [=McCafferty=], teenage girls are paid lots of money to be "surrogates" after a virus makes everyone over 18 infertile. They are not allowed to keep their baby and even take medication so they will not form any attachments to the baby. Motherhood is glorified and even schools are encouraged to have as much pregnant teens as possible.

** In ''Mockingjay'' [[spoiler:she does eventually become a mother out of her own free will. Though it takes a war that overthrows the government and ends the Games and even with that it still takes fifteen years of Peeta wanting children badly before she agrees.]]

* In Creator/PoulAnderson's "Literature/{{Starfog}}", Graydal, believing her ship has slipped through to another universe and can't return, regrets that they did not come with an equal number of men and women and observes that they will have to avoid the more settled planets where PopulationControl means not all women bear children. The ''Jacavarrie'' concludes that they have evolved compulsive need to reproduce.

** However, in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', the only one who has MandatoryMotherhood is Azura, otherwise, it's Mandatory ''Fatherhood''.

* In ''Manga/BlueExorcist'' [[spoiler:Shura]]'s ancestor made a pact with a demon that she and all of her decendants would be required to give birth to a child before they turned 30 (because the same pact also cursed them to die when they turn 30). [[spoiler: Shura]] refuses to have a child, but the demon is trying to [[MindManipulation force the issue]]

Contrast ConvenientMiscarriage, which is, of course, on the opposite end of the LawOfInverseFertility. If the character is merely experiencing social pressure to have children but can still say no, she's on the receiving end of NotWantingKidsIsWeird. SubTrope of ChosenConceptionPartner.

Also, despite the name, this trope is not limited to female characters; male characters may also be coerced into fatherhood.

* Somewhat self-imposed by the Thulls in the ''{{Belgariad}}''. Angarak priests won't sacrifice a pregnant woman (it messes up their quota), so Thullish ladies try to remain in that state as much as possible.

* Katsa from ''Literature/Graceling'' is told even by well-meaning friends that she will eventually want children and marriage even though she pointedly does not. Ultimately averted though, as she's never forced into marriage or motherhood and ends the series childless and happy.

Maybe having babies is considered a civic duty, like a man's serving in warfare.

* The Yuki-onna of ''RosarioToVampire'' are required to marry at seventeen and start producing children immediately, due to the fact that the average Yuki-onna hits menopause before hitting thirty, leaving very little time for them to produce the next generation of a race that can't afford to have anyone not contribute to the long-term survival of the species. Mizore doesn't want to participate... at least, not with the guy her family picked for her (she makes it QUITE clear that she is willing to go through with this tradition using Tsukune instead).

** And then Paul, writing in the New Testament, subverted the blazes out of it by saying[[note]]I Cor. 7, mostly the second half[[/note]] it was fine for men ''and'' women not to marry, or marry, as they chose (though if "not", they were to abstain from sex). This because he expected the world to end within the next few decades ("time is short"), making populating the earth pointless; a modern interpretation (since the world ''didn't'' end) is that he was predicting the future persecution that the church would face at the hands of Rome, and an IHaveYourWife situation could make it that much more difficult for a person to choose to be a faithful martyr rather than to forsake Christianity. (It could also have had something to do with him being famously uninterested in marrying for some reason.)

* Any straight couple that engages in "woohoo" in ''Videogame/TheSimsMedieval'' may produce a baby. Unlike in other Sims games, there is no way to prevent this.
** Though this is a more justified example since, you know, birth control hasn't been invented yet.

** Likewise, in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' all the females recruited in the first half (with the exception of Anna), and Cherche in the second half, if they fall in love and marry, will have one child in the future, possibly two if they marry Chrom or the Avatar. And in Chrom's case it's Mandatory Fatherhood (with him moreso, in fact, [[spoiler: for plot reasons he has to marry by a certain chapter in order for him to father Lucina]]).