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Michelle Obama's Memoir Sparks Discussion at Wellesley College

As we learn more about Michelle Obama's new book, we are getting a glimpse into some of the more private aspects of her life -- and for one Women's Studies class at Wellesley College, it was the former first lady's openness about a very painful point in her life that led to an enlightening classroom conversation.

Obama's new book, "Becoming," provided a launching point for discussion in professor Rosanna Hertz's contemporary reproduction class, as Hertz admitted she was stunned to learn the former first lady used in vitro fertizilization, IVF, to conceive both her children.

Hertz, chair of the Women's and Gender studies program at Wellesley College, asked students how they felt about Obama revealing such personal information.

"Maybe she could have talked about it while she was first lady, because that's when you really have this major platform," one student opined.

"I think if she had done it while her husband was still president, I think more people would've empathized with her," another said.

But some students say they understand the former first lady's reluctance to discuss it while in the White House.

"I think there was a lot of pressure to act like everything in their marriage and everything in their family was OK," one said.

"I think at the end of the day, she tried to protect not only herself, but her family," added another.

"Hopefully this conversation will allow for there to be less stigma around the use of IVF," said another student.

Obama also writes about Donald Trump in the memoir, calling him a misogynist and saying she will never forgive Trump for the danger he put her family in when spread the "birther" controversy. Asked what they thought, one student summed up what many were thinking: "It's about time."

Obama writes that her decision to have IVF came after suffering a miscarriage, and that she didn't know 20 years ago just how common miscarriages are.

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