Birth Activism

Do you ever have this haunting thought: "Why am I working so hard for change and to improve conditions for motherbaby when things keep getting worse?" When I look at birth around the world I realize that the changing of medicalized, technological and interfered-with birth is the most important plan we can make. We think of the motherbaby-their experience, their lives and their physical, emotional and spiritual health-and we go on. We reflect on the lovely families we have served and we go on. A spiritual stirring deep in our soul moves us on. We have been given a special love for what we do. We are like the little girl who saw thousands of starfish washed up on the sand and started throwing them into the sea, one by one. Someone said, "You can't make a difference for all these dying starfish. There are so many and you are so small." She picked up another, threw it in the ocean and said, "But I can make a difference for this one." We are that little girl. We are making a difference for this family, one birth and one woman at a time. In the face of these frustrations, we fight for mothers and their babies.

I know things can be rough for us as midwives, childbirth educators, doulas and activists, but we must change things. We are the only ones who know about instinctive birth and authentic, women-centered midwifery. Our charge now is to make the changes we know are necessary. Let's get our allies together, make plans and carry those out. Someone in the profession with the title "midwife" may or may not be an ally. The title "doctor" does not automatically eliminate those from the ally category either.

From One Birth, One Woman at a Time - by Jan Tritten. This article first appeared in Midwifery Today Issue 65.

The imperialism and colonization of the past three centuries have annihilated cultures and along with them, the birth culture and the wisdom and traditions of the ages. The colonizing countries dominated birth with destructive medicalization at a time when Western powers were decimating cultures. Medicalization rode on the wave of imperialism. This force is still going today and is an effective tool used against normal, instinctive birth. At the same time that Western powers were destroying other cultures, a detrimental force was taking shape within Western society itself. Men and the most barbaric of their ways were taking over birth. Fear became their other effective tool. All along their path, they have discredited women's ways of knowing. Western medicine benefited from the bettering of conditions-food, clean water, improved housing and disease control-claiming that hospital birth, which became required, resulted in better outcomes. Indeed the opposite is true. Normal birth is safest when a pregnant woman is served at home or in a birth center with a known and chosen midwife, one who is not steeped in medicine but in loving and caring for birthing women in true partnership with them.

From medicalization and the taking over of birth came a movement so strong that the witch hunt mounted against us shall not stand. As Marsden Wagner says, "what the midwives have going is truth and monetary savings." Authentic midwifery has grown out of medical domination in the U.S. It is time to take stock, evaluate and maximize our strength, joining with our friends around the world to take birth back. There are strengths in other countries we can pull from for our movement. We each have strengths that others can borrow for their movement. From the U.K. we see great strides in evidence-informed midwifery, as well as midwifery research. From Mexico, Guatemala and Brazil, we receive very strong traditional practices. Many techniques we can learn and apply to our own practices, such as the use of the rebozo, herbs and Mexican steam baths. At conferences and through the Internet, we can share techniques and ways of organizing. We can support each other politically when the witch hunt rears its ugly head.

From Take Birth Back - by Jan Tritten This article first appeared in Midwifery Today Issue 66.

Birth's integrity diminishes as obstetric interventions multiply. The rights of women and babies must be recognized.

1. All women have the right to sacred, fantastic, profound and loving birth experiences. Childbirth must never be viewed by birth attendants as routine, cumbersome or insignificant.
2. Childbirth must happen in physical and emotional privacy. Women's vaginas in birth are as sacrosanct as they are at any other time; routinely penetrating them with fingers, forceps, scissors or hooks is a severe violation against the most fundamental rights of women to privacy and protection of the self. Women have the right to vocalize, move about, assume any birthing positions they like, and allow their births to unfold uniquely, without feeling the need to gain the acceptance and approval of their birth attendants. Women have the right to refuse birth attendants altogether. All hospital staff, midwives, family members, and friends of birthing women must have full consent before viewing the childbirth process. Women's bodies are never to be regarded as learning aids. No institution has the right to impose spectators on any woman's birth.

For a full list of these rights see A Declaration of the Rights of Childbearing Women - by Leilah McCracken. This article first appeared in Midwifery Today Issue 50.

The class I love to teach at conferences is birth change. I could get frustrated when I consider the limited extent of the change we have made. The Listening to Mothers survey conducted by the Maternity Center Association showed a 99% intervention rate in the US. Our goal is to have motherbaby birthed without harm and in joy. I know all of you reading this are working in your communities and the world to achieve this change. Multiply your numbers to include all of the midwives, doulas, educators and activists, and our numbers swell.

From Happy Birthday, Birth Change - by Jna Tritten. This article first appeared in Midwifery Today Issue 73, Spring 2005.