“The Business of Being Born”
Rikki Lake has just released a documentary, The Business of Being Born. From the film’s website:
Birth: it’s a miracle. A rite of passage. A natural part of life. But more than anything, birth is a business. Compelled to find answers after a disappointing birth experience with her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to examine and question the way American women have babies.
The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system….
Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?
I’ll answer that. Pro-lifers say the former; pro-aborts the latter, and not just about delivery but about the entire pregnancy.
Here’s the trailer:
I’m thrilled with any promotion of pregnancy. Halle Berry was a great pregnancy advocate in this month’s In Style magazine:
“My skin is aglow from all the hormones. I actually wear less makeup, which is really good. I want to stay pregnant forever,” she says….
Ask her how she’s feeling these days and Berry answers without missing a beat. “Fantastic! The second trimester, everybody told me, ‘You’ll see, you’re going to be a whole new woman.’ And it’s true…. [R]ight now I just have so much joy and energy that I feel like I’ve already done 12 things today. I can just go and go and go.”
Something weird is happening here. Not only is Hollywood suddenly high on procreation, but so is the rest of America. CNN reported yesterday the U.S. is experiencing a “baby boomlet.”
Interesting that a “boomlet” these days means America has reattained a population replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. Well, there’s good news. We’re no longer dying off. Can’t say that about much of the rest of the world. According to CNN:
[T]he United States has a higher fertility rate than every country in continental Europe, as well as Australia, Canada and Japan….
Countries with much lower rates – such as Japan and Italy, both with a rate of 1.3 – face future labor shortages and eroding tax bases as they fail to reproduce enough to take care of their aging elders.
But there’s still hope. I appreciated this line from the CNN piece, even if I’m unsure it’s true:
“Americans like children. We are the only people who respond to prosperity by saying, `Let’s have another kid,”‘ said Nan Marie Astone, associate professor of population, family and reproductive health at Johns Hopkins University.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I had a c-section with my daughter..which most definitely saved her life.
I don’t think I missed out on anything by not having a “natural” birth. It was a great experience and my doctor was/is amazing.
The only thing I would have liked that I didn’t get to do was see her directly after she was born and have her put on my chest like they do with a vaginal birth. My mom got to hold her first and bring her over to me. But other then that, I was pleased with my birthing experience.
If I wasn’t at the hospital my son would have died. Then again, he was premature, so I don’t think anyone planning a home birth would have stayed home.
I wonder if the documentary mentions a new trend where hospitals are licencing mid-wives to work together with the OB/GYN? If there are no complications you never see the doctor, but you are in the hospitals so if there are complications you can get treatment.
Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?
I’ll answer that. Pro-lifers say the former; pro-aborts the latter, and not just about delivery but about the entire pregnancy.
Patently false, Jill. Both pro-lifers and pro-choicers have varying opinions on the level of medical intervention during birth. I believe a woman should have the legal option to decide if, when, and HOW she will give birth – that includes legal abortion AND legal home birth. I’m pro-choice and plan on giving birth at home, barring any serious complications.
I was lucky. I had a doctor who did home births and my fourth was a home birth. It was wonderful. My first birth was totally medicated,with an epidural and was the pits. I knew I could do better and I didn’t want to be a victim of the health-care system. I think the video clip is correct that doctors tell women they don’t know how to give birth, just like they tell them they can’t breastfeed, or they can’t manage menopause. After my first child I went out and got myself a doula (which is a woman who supports the mother throughout labour) and a new doctor. I know not all woman can have babies naturally, and that c-sections, as Elizabeth correctly pointed out, have their place. And for some women, that epidural is heaven! But I think this is part of a larger issue in which menstrual periods, pregnancy and menopause are portrayed as ILLNESSES or DISEASES that have to be treated. Women need to pass on their birthing knowledge, their breast feeding knowledge, to their daughters and encourage a healthy approach.
All children were born at home until the medical community realized that there was big bucks in pregnancy. Suddenly women were too stupid to not have doctors tell them what to do as well as too stupid to attend other women’s births. Only men could possibly understand pregnancy and birth. @@
Then there came along the money making formula industry and breast milk wasn’t good enough.
It’s no wonder that women’s gestational experiences have become so dehumanized. The woman and her essential part in creating life has been reduced to little more than a unfortunate necessity to get those babies born. The PL are no help in correcting this delusion.
And Jill: life is full of catastrophic medical emergencies. It’s one of the hazards of life. We are not required to invite them however.
being born in the hospital saved my first daughter’s life too. I’m always nervous when I hear someone say they’re going to have a baby at home. I’m sure it works out fine most of the time, but why chance it. Modern “birthing centers” at the hospitals make it as comfortable as possible. I’m sure they way they did it 20 years ago was not as nice, however.
Most births are natural and unassisted by trained professionals and most of these natural unassisted births have healthy outcomes.
Sometimes we think our world is the world.
As for our world, I just wish women who don’t need any medical help could have a place to labor at a hospital without following any rules or guidelines so they are able to get help if they need but can do their own thing if they don’t.
This is an area where women are still waiting to be treated with respect. We have all heard these stories about how someone’s child was saved. Without sounding like a jerk, how do we know that really? How much is perception? I know I am a really stickler for data and no one does controlled trials of delivery interventions because everyone wants to err on the side of what they think is caution. They think it is better to do a c section just in case even when the odds are not that bad. All of my comment is based on my perception of people’s comments not on data. I am just thinking out loud.
It reminds me of the study that showed those who got bypass surgery and those who didn’t had the same 5 year survival rates. It seemed like surgery was effective but numerically speaking, it was as effective as doing nothing.
One of my sisters had her twin boys at home, but not by choice. Her labor was extremely fast and there was no time to get her to the hospital. A neighbor up the street was an RN and she delivered the boys, and they were perfectly fine.
Her doctor had told her she’d have to have them by C-Section due to their size and my sister being “petite”. She found out after the twins that her doctor was famous for pushing c-sections on women and always bragging about this enormous mansion he was building. She stopped going to him after that and had two more children naturally, and used a doula for both, and they were fine, as well. Luckily, the last 2 were born in the hospital which was 2 blocks away, and the hospital sent her home the next day because they “needed the bed”.
I agree that infants are brought into this world in the hospital setting with the legal and financial issues as primary concerns and what’s best for mom and baby secondary. It’s obvious from what is happening.
While I can’t blame doctors for wanting to protect themselves from those that would sue at the drop of a hat, and well, hospitals are usually in business to make money, I can’t see ever not making the health of mom and baby the top concern. The system must change and the first step is eliminating abortion and delicensing doctors who do not make patients their first concern. More stringent perfomance reviews are in order. This C-section lawyer is one good candidate to have his medical license terninated. The patient should have filed a complaint with the medical board and demanded a review of his practice.
Our legal system has failed us because it allows lawyers like John Edwards and other fascist attorneys to make millions and millions of dollars at the expense of us all. We need to shut lawyer lobbyists out of the political system. Politically, lawmakers are forced via lobbyists to make laws that do not always benefit those they should benefit. Abortion is a prime example of a government gone awry making laws that harm the most vulnerable in our society.
Anyone know how much money PP spends on lobbying?
Without sounding like a jerk, how do we know that really?
My daughter had a knot in her cord and it was wrapped around her throat several times..if I had done labor naturally..the first contraction would have cut off her blood supply and she probably would have died.
On a side note..Halle Barry looks freaking amazing. I mean that dress is just so flattering to her pregnant body. She’s officially one of the hottest pregnant people I’ve ever seen.
Without sounding like a jerk, how do we know that really?
well, in our case we can’t be sure, but I was there hour after hour watching the fetal heart monitor dip and dip. Maybe she would have been fine at home, but I’m damn grateful we were at a first class hospital.
I have been party to six deliveries at the hospital and I don’t think the labor and delivery would work out as well at home. Can you get an epideral at home?
It’s always safer to be within medical supervision and equipment in case something goes wrong. You can’t always predict stuff like that.
“Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?”
I think they could be viewed as both, because they both can be true. They are a natural life process, but just because they’re natural doesn’t mean they’re always safe. They can be disasters if something goes wrong. Personally, I’d rather have the security of medical supervision and equiptment in case something goes really wrong during delivery.
With that said, how is everyone? I just got back from Taiwan, and it was awesome.
Brothers and sisters: Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death. For what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do, this God has done: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous decree of the law mght be fullfilled in us, who live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.
Romans 8:1-4
On a side note..Halle Barry looks freaking amazing. I mean that dress is just so flattering to her pregnant body. She’s officially one of the hottest pregnant people I’ve ever seen.
Elizabeth, you are so right. I think she’s one of the most beautiful people ever. Way back in 1991 she was in “The Last Boy Scout” and I’ve loved her ever since. Not the greatest movie – though I think it did okay if you like big explosions. Guys can just zone out and say, “That blowed up real good….!”
Have to laugh at the plot description:
A down and out cynical detective teams up with a down and out ex-quarterback to try and solve a murder…
Pro-lifers say the former; pro-aborts the latter, and not just about delivery but about the entire pregnancy.
Why would you say that? I have never seen or heard of any correlation, even the most minor, between a person’s views on abortion and her views on how best to proceed with a pregnancy.
“Why would you say that?”
I have heard pro-aborts say time and time again how much safer abortions are than childbirth….blah, blah…
>>I have heard pro-aborts say time and time again how much safer abortions are than childbirth.
Doug said:
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Sure, Rosie, no question about it. But that does not mean that “every delivery is.. potentially catastrophic.”
Posted by: Doug at January 17, 2008 9:00 AM
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IMO every delivery is “potentially” catstrophic. Drop the word pitentially and I would agree with you Doug.
For pro aborts to claim that abortion is safer than childbirth is pure and simple lunacy, and anyone who actually believes that should have their head examined.
Childbirth is a NATURAL occurrance.
Induced abortion is NOT. Forced dilation, metal clamps to keep the cervix open, vacuum tubes, currettes, forceps, etc. and all the other instruments shoved inside a woman to deliberately interrupt pregnancy and forcefully dismember the child, pull it out in pieces, and send the hormonal system into “tilt” can hardly be considered “safe” .
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.
The pro aborts will keep chanting this one for eons…and people will believe it…well, those with no common sense, anyway.
Interesting that Rikki Lake would even make such a film. She’s pro-choice and supports PP. Her name is on every list of the pro aborts and pro-choicers.
Women spontaneously abort all the time.
If childbirth should be ‘natural’, then should we outlaw C-sections?
Spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) and INDUCED abortion are 2 completely different things.
No. C-sections shouldn’t be outlawed…but abortion should.
“If childbirth should be ‘natural’, then should we outlaw C-sections?”
who is saying that? and why are you getting all wierd about it?
Mike says that giving birth is natural. But it isn’t always- there are times where surgery and C-sections are required to deliver a healthy baby. That makes the whole process unnatural. If Mike proposes that abortion should be outlawed because it is unnatural, then so should C-sections. And any surgical procedure, for that matter.
Childbirth is natural. However that baby is delivered. Vaginally or C-Section. You still get a beautiful baby.
IMO every delivery is “potentially” catastrophic. Drop the word “potentially” and I would agree with you Doug.
Truthseeker, I don’t get you, there. Did you mean “every abortion is catastrophic”?
Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?
I’ll answer that. Pro-lifers say the former; pro-aborts the latter, and not just about delivery but about the entire pregnancy.
__________
I don’t see how you can make a generalization like this. I am pro-choice, and I don’t think that a normal pregnancy, which doesn’t show any signs of anything likely to go wrong, should be treated as a potentially life threatening medical emergency. Every pregnancy should, of course, be carefully monitored, because every pregnancy COULD, of course, endanger the life of the woman in question–even Jill Stanek would have to admit that–but after the pregnancy in question is statistically unlikely to endanger the woman, I don’t see why it can’t be treated as a natural process that’s unlikely to hurt her, if that’s what she wants.
There are a lot of hospitals that are changing their approach to childbirth, due to popular demand–many women don’t like the clinical approach to childbearing, and prefer a more homelike, “natural” atmosphere. For the same purpose, “home like” birthing centers and “natural” births are also pretty popular. I wouldn’t have any problem with either of these options, and I’m pro-choice.
Erin:
The intent of a C-section is not to murder an infant it’s to preerve the life of the mother and baby.
Mike says that giving birth is natural. But it isn’t always- there are times where surgery and C-sections are required to deliver a healthy baby. That makes the whole process unnatural. If Mike proposes that abortion should be outlawed because it is unnatural, then so should C-sections. And any surgical procedure, for that matter.
Posted by: Erin at January 17, 2008 12:07 PM
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As well as induced labor.
“If Mike proposes that abortion should be outlawed because it is unnatural, then so should C-sections. And any surgical procedure, for that matter.”
surgical procedures are to save lives. abortion ends lives. Why is it so hard for you liberals to understand this.
you don’t have to be liberal to support abortion rights.
Or is “liberal” just a name you throw at anyone you disagree with?
>Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?
Jill, if pro-lifers believe the former, then why do you call your persuasion centers “Crisis Pregnancy Centers?”
And as a pro-choicer who participated in the at-home drug-free birth of my son, I maintain that my wife and I believe the former far more fervently than any pro-lifer who gives birth in a hospital with an epidural, unless there was a complication to the pregnancy that necessitated it.
Less sex, less abortions
It’s ridiculous that the most supposedly credible source of abortion statistics is the abortion industry, and Planned Parenthood to boot. Proven over and over to be full of liars, crooks, and creeps, PP is as trustworthy as Hugo Chavez providing…