this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2023
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There's a growing movement of "free birthing" where people are choosing to give birth unassisted and without medical intervention.
I suspect it's people trying to take agency in countries without universal health care where giving birth medically supported is financially untenable for a large population. Influencers do it and glorify it and make it look like an attractive option for people who also have anxiety about health.
It's really sad actually. The child seems less important than "the perfect birth story"
I have nothing against more people trying to give birth without medical assistance, exactly because giving birth nowadays is more and more considered a surgical act than a physiological process.
We have a NHS and the complaints from women and, fortunately, from men as well, about violence during labour as been pilling to create awareness and force changes.
From pushing for C-sections, to strapping women to the "chair", which is a proven bad position to give birth, systematic episiotomy, forced shaving of the pubic area, premature, too late or unnecessary epidural, no opening for different birthing positions...
I'm going to stop here. It's a sensible subject for me.
More and more people are looking for alternatives to give birth outside the reach of uncaring or indifferent doctors, which has been making space to doulas and midwives reappearing, often nurses that have undergone specfic training for such purpose.
These people are not trying to make the birth of their children unsafe but instead less violent and less of a medical act and more of a natural process.
The babies are nonetheless visited by a pediatrician, the foot test is done, and the children are registered because not doing so is endangering the child and depriving them for social backing, both child and parents.
Sorry for the long wind. This is a sensible subject to me.
I fully respect that medical treatment of women has historically been lacking, and at times horrific. Number of c-sections is actually a metric used to measure appropriateness of medical interventions for a reason, since if it's not necessary it's extremely invasive and a brutal recovery.
I feel for those who have had bad experiences. Midwives are absolutely amazing.
I am more concerned with those that refuse prenatal care and medical care for their children, when they are accessible, for their own comfort.
Your last few words intrigued me.
For their comfort? How? Usually, it will be extreme outliers going down such route, often connected with distrust from government or religious motivation.
I guess it's not really their comfort, you're right about there being extrinsic factors at play.
By their comfort I meant avoidance of discomfort, in relation to medical procedures, to the extreme of potentially jeopardizing the health of their child. Things (other than avoiding prenatal care, which can result in more dangerous situations during delivery) like refusing vitamin k for their newborn.