Monday, August 1, 2011

The System is not Broken; It Was Flawed from The Beginning

Someone thought my admonition for women to stay home to avoid a cesarean was somehow placing the blame on mothers.....and that it is the maternity system that is broken.  Here was my response:
Birth is Safe; Interference is Risky!

I think the problem is that we have believed a lie: birth is medical and dangerous and requires a medical setting and a medical manager. The out of control maternity system CANNOT BE CHANGED as long as that lie permeates our culture. Women who walk into a hospital should not ignore the fact that their choices are diminished and the probability of a surgical extraction is FAR greater than if they made the decision to birth AWAY from the place that has proven it is NOT about mothers and babies but fear - power- and profit.I wish it were not so. I wish the 90+% of women who choose hospital birth did not face the 1 in 3 chance of having a cesarean or repeated cesarean. But the FACT is that they do.*
If I thought that getting on one highway increased the risk of death...I would take another road. Fortunately, home birth is extremely safe if mother and baby are left alone to do their thing, with minimal interference. So for MOST women it is a far safer road.*I have dedicated my life to HELPING women; I am not blaming women; would be the last person to do that-------, but I am also not blind to the fact that in my 30 plus years in this field, that I have not been able to change one thing about the system and I have really worked hard...but to no avail. We have not and will not change the system because we have let it change us. Mothers and babies are harmed because we have not told them the truth....so I no longer will be complicit with the lie. I am going to continue to tell mothers of the dangers of hospital birth in the hope that they will avoid them for birth. You would have to work really really hard to make the average home as hazardous for birth as any hospital.

2 comments:

Cherylyn said...

Excellent post! I agree with everything you've said, and I admire you for the work you do.

Jo said...

Totally Agree!!! Keep up your good work, two thumbs up!!!