Happy Labor Day!

Today, all across the nation, mothers and supporters are rallying at state capitols, hospitals, and other public places to share information and encouragement for improved birth practices and maternity rights in the United States. The U.S. has among the worst death rates for new mothers and newborns of all developed nations, even though we spend the most money on birth care. But today's rallies are not so much a protest of injustice as they are a venue for sharing information about better practices and informed choice.

Thankfully, the difference between the nations with the best birth practices and the U.S. is much smaller than the difference between the worst nations (such as Afghanistan and Niger) and the U.S. Still, we know we can do better. After all, we've come a long way.

Before the twentieth century, almost every mother gave birth at home, without the option of going to a hospital or birth center. There were no epidurals, antibiotics, or effective ways to prevent or stop hemorrhages. Roughly one out of every 20 births was fatal to the mother.

When hospital births became common in the United States, they did not at first improve outcomes for the mother or baby. Standard practices were brutal, unhygienic, and often traumatizing. Maternal death rates finally took a steep dive after the dawn of antibiotics.

In the second half of the twentieth century, the natural birth movement rejected the cold, sterile hospital environment, with its bundle of both helpful and counterproductive practices, in favor of childbirth assisted only by a midwife at home--a return to what must have seemed to many like "the good old days" after several decades of hospital delivery rooms resembling torture chambers. The home birth movement has done much to raise awareness about overuse of interventions, female empowerment, the benefits of breastfeeding, and more. Unfortunately, it has lately come under fire in the so-called Mommy Wars for failing to deliver on its promises of higher safety and survival rates than modern hospitals.

Fortunately, medical science and female empowerment are not at all mutually exclusive. Today's hospitals are familiar with female obstetricians, doulas, well-informed patients, evidence-based practices, and the importance of comfort for the laboring mother. And today's midwives often work with birth centers and hospitals and have access to modern marvels such as antibiotics and ultrasounds. Death by childbirth is rare in our country now, whether birth takes place in a hospital or elsewhere, though it is not as rare as it could be.

Today, American mothers are coming together in a call for better, safer birth choices for all women, in hospitals and birth centers and homes. We know it is possible to save many women and babies who die each year from preventable causes, because we can see from the other developed nations of the world that it is possible to change obstetrical practices and reduce mortality rates.

If you missed today's rallies but you want to learn more or take action, check out the following links.

To improve hospital birth practices: improvingbirth.org

To improve midwife practices and expand safe birth choices: safermidwiferyformichigan.blogspot.com
www.midwiveswashington.com
oregonmidwifeinfo.com