Most of you watching this are lucky enough to have never been pregnant.
Myself included.
Birth is bloody hard.
Well, it looks that way.
And if you have to spawn the next generation, you should be able to do it however the GOD
DAMN GET THIS THING OUTA ME HOLY CRAP you want.
Especially in the land of the free and the home of the brave moms who have to push a
living human our of their lady bits.
Well actually, that’s not true…
Some 23 states in America make it basically illegal to have a home birth with a midwife
even if you want one
[INTRO]
You see, in those 23 states, there is no recognition for Certified Professional Midwives or CPM
- the person who would normally oversee an out-of hospital birth.
So in those states, if you choose to have a baby at home, and you choose to hire a midwife,
that midwife is technically operating illegally and can be arrested and charged as a criminal.
So it’s technically legal to have a baby at home with no medical help, but if you have
the baby at home with the help of a midewife, it’s illegal.
So why the difference?
How come half of the US is cool with midwives, and the other half not cool.
Well it all comes down to racism.
Before the 1900s, midwives were the main source of medical care for pregnant women.
In the south, During the reign of slavery in the United States, nearly every large Southern
plantation had what was called a ‘granny midwife’ - an older black lady who was knowledgeable
on pregnancy and birth, but usually health and spirituality as well.
But as obstetrics and gynecology became professional white male occupations around the 1930s, the
white male doctors lobbied to have granny midwives outlawed.
And so it’s no surprise that most of the states that don’t support home births are
in the south.
Many states don’t even let obstetricians - who have a medical doctor licence - practice
in the home.
They can help you give birth, but only if you do it in a hospital
now some people do have very valid objections to CPM saying they dont have as much training
as say an OB and thats true an OB is trained as a MD, they know about all the parts of
the body, now a midwife doesn't need to know all that, they are only certified to do one
thing-help a woman give birth to a baby.
So a lot of states rather than doing the hard work of figureing out where the cirteria should
be for giving these people accreditation they just outright banned them, which means mothers
dont have choice- even if they wanted to use one
Now a lot of people argue that birth is inherently dangerous, and must be always carefully supervised
by a trained specialized doctor.
But meanwhile, just over the border, Canada is totally cool with midwife-assisted home
birth.
A three-year study of almost 23,000 low risk pregnancies found that there was no statistically
significant difference between babies delivered at home, and babies delivered in hospital.
However low risk women delivering in a hospital were more likely to receive serious interventions
- such as cesarean, and episiotomy a surgical cut made at the opening of the vagina.
In Holland, it’s a similar story.
All Dutch women have their pregnancy assessed, and Low-risk women get to choose if they want
to have their baby at home or in the hospital.
If complications happen, no probs, the midwife sends the mother to a hospital obstetrician
by ambulance.
A massive study of over half a million low risk births showed at dutch home births were
just as safe as those in a hospital.
Now this whole issue may seem like no big deal - and that only hippie organic mums would
ever choose to pop a baby out at home.
but lets look at an actual experience.
A pregnant woman in Springfield, Missouri with insurance that includes midwife care,
is still 100 miles away from any hospital-based midwife on their insurance plan.
And If they go to a hospital, there’s no way of knowing how much the birth could cost.
Seriously!
Hospitals refuse to tell you the cost of an average, uncomplicated birth - check out this
vox video to see how frustrating that can be.
And it’s not like the pricing is affordable or consistant.
A 2015 study showed that the cost of a standard, uncomplicated birth can vary from less than
$2,000 - to $12,000.
And there’s no way of knowing which end you’ll end up on until
the bill arrives.
So a home birth is affordable, preferable, just as safe.
So why can’t women choose to give birth at home???
But what do you guys think?
Do you think moms particularly mom with a low risk pregnancy hsould be allowed to give
birth at home with a professional mid wife?
Have you seen anyone or know anyone thats had birth at home?
let us know in the comments below?
HI everyone!
I'm Jayde Lovell, resident science nerd at the Young Turks Network.
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