Politics circle every aspect of our life, whether we acknowledge or give credence to them or not. Politics are of course the blood of our government, but they also play a sneaky role in our neighborhoods, in our places of work, on our bodies and in the birthing room. The AMA (American Medical Association) is currently on a rampage to decimate women's rights to give birth where she wants. Regardless of the many, many studies done around the world that point to the fact that childbirth for a healthy mother and healthy pregnancy is safest when in the comfort of the mothers home and in the presence of her own familial germs, the AMA and the ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) are ruthlessly trying to sabotage such a basic civil right. This is all, might I add, without the presentation of any good evidence that hospital births are safer than homebirths....just bureaucratic and corporate power at it's best (worst!).
For just a few of the research articles that demonstrate what I have written above, go to:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9271961
http://www.yin-yang.com/vbfree/docs/schlenzka.htm
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7505/1416
Now, to be fair, here is a part of the AMA's official statement supporting the ACOG and admonishing homebirth:
"Whereas, An apparently uncomplicated pregnancy or delivery can quickly become very complicated in the setting of maternal hemorrhage, shoulder dystocia, eclampsia or other obstetric emergencies, necessitating the need for rigorous standards, appropriate oversight of obstetric providers, and the availability of emergency care, for the health of both the mother and the baby during a delivery; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association support the recent American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) statement that “the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers” (New HOD Policy); and be it further
RESOLVED, That our AMA develop model legislation in support of the concept that the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the AAP and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers.” (Directive to Take Action)."
Here is an example of the AMA's fear-mongering push to the public:
AMA to LA Times: Response to "Babies, the old-fashioned way"
July 23, 2008
LA Times Letter to the Editor
To the Editor:
Ensuring the safety of the mother and baby during childbirth is a physician's top priority. The AMA remains convinced that the safest location for labor and delivery is a hospital or birthing center, where life-saving medical equipment and trained physicians are readily available ("Babies, the old-fashioned way," 7/9).
Ms. Block inaccurately portrays our position in her opinion piece, and I want to set the record straight: The AMA’s policy on home births does not call for legislation that could be used against women who choose to give birth at home. We believe that the safest setting for labor and delivery is a hospital or birthing center and our policy says exactly that. Serious complications can arise with little or no warning, even among women with low-risk pregnancies, and hospitals and birthing centers are best equipped to handle those complications.
Home births may be safe for some women, but the health and safety of both mother and child are too important to risk.
Sincerely,
Joseph M. Heyman, MD
Board Chair, American Medical Association
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Okay, okay, so what is my point? My point is that big business and politics are once again starting the assault on not just woman's rights, but on civil rights. Based on the research out there supporting the safety of homebirth and the lack of research supporting the argument posed by the AMA/ACOG, it is safe to say (and I am not any where near alone in saying) that this is about fear. The medical establishment has always been afraid of women being in control of their own birth experience (see "Man-Midwives" below) and now they are afraid of losing their grip on modern birth as conventional culture knows it. This fear that I speak of is undoubtedly based on the fear of losing money. It is about greed, control and power. The modern hospital birth, when all goes well and only minimal interventions occur is three-four times as expensive as the average Certified Professional Homebirth Midwife (CPM), who generally charge about $3000 for all prenatal, birth and post-partum services. The hospital ticket is only getting bigger with the sky rocketing use of intervetion after intervention and is costing families around $13-16,000 should the mother have a cesarean birth. Thats a lot of money when approximately 4 million babies being born in the US each year (with only 1% currently birthing at home) and approximately 30% of those are having the more expensive (yet quicker) c-section delivery. Hmmmmm.......
I know that many will argue with this standpoint, but when you give the benefit of the doubt to the mother and to her neonate, and admit that it is (usually) not a medical process in need of medical intention and intervention, then the pieces start to fit together and the lack of altruism on the medical establishments behalf if not so sweet after all.
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