I am a big fan of women and families having choices, options and alternatives throughout pregnancy, birth, and childraising.  That’s why it’s always bugged me that if the medical establishment  had its way, homebirth would be illegal everywhere in the US. It’s already illegal in several states for a midwife to attend a woman in labor at home – see mana.org (Midwives Alliance of North America) for more details.  FYI, for those of you in Massachusetts, it is alegal – meaning it is unregulated and there is no law for or against homebirth midwives practicing (although Mass Midwives want to change this and create a bipartisan regulatory board).

It’s heartening to read this front page news in the NYTimes about more women choosing home birth.   I think enough information is out there about women not being listened to in some hospital settings, and of the huge number of unnecessary interventions happening these days (I’ve written on this before here).

My sincere question is – if ACOG (the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology) and the AMA (American Medical Association) really want satisfied customers and good outcomes for healthy and happy babies *and* moms, why don’t they try to support homebirth with the best kind of backup support and communication between midwives and doctors? Instead, doctors are strongly discouraged from developing relationships with homebirth midwives.  Why don’t they try to establish a more nurturing atmosphere in the hospital so that more families are satisfied with their hospital birth experiences?  Instead, more often than not, women are pressured into following hospital protocol, and aren’t encouraged to question their care on anything – from the easy (do I have to wear a hospital gown – why can’t I give birth in my own clothes?) to the more complicated (why do you induce labor? when do you induce labor?  what are the many methods of induction?  what if I don’t choose to be induced?).    

Finally, it’s all well and good that ACOG says they support births in either a hospital or “accredited birth center on hospital grounds.”  But how many birth centers are left these days?   We had three in Massachusetts.  The Wellesley Birth Center closed abruptly a few years ago.  The North Shore Birth Center is about to close as we write (click here to get in on the consumer actions being taken to try and save the birth center).   Only the Cambridge Birth Center remains – which fills up months and months in advance.  The fact is, the climate exists where birth centers can’t operate freely – the owners/practitioners are scared out of business.  It’s only because of the homebirth midwives, who really are tenacious, amazing women who will not be silenced, intimidated or scared, that we still have a national conversation about a family’s rights in the birthing world. 

To all my wonderful prenatal and postnatal students, present, past and future: every birth is sacred.   On some level, I don’t care how or where someone gives birth (that’s only one part of the whole experience of pregnancy and parenthood). I only care that every mom and family feels respected, cared for, and informed.  I am supporting homebirth midwives, birth centers, and all other practitioners who are working for this same right to choose how you will bring your baby into the world.