The American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology now says that we should “let nature take its course” during labor. But that change could take years to go into effect, affecting pregnant individuals in the United States and abroad.
The Pope’s rationale is that his “age means he lacks strength to do job.” You could use the exact words to describe the nine-year old girl the Pope excommunicated for having a life-saving abortion after being raped and impregnated, with twins.
Recent conversations have focused on the question of whether home birth is safe. Here is why it’s the wrong question to be asking.
Mississippi voters yesterday soundly defeated Initiative 26, the so-called Personhood Amendment, by a margin of 58 percent to 42 percent. The vague proposition, which would have defined a fertilized egg as a person, threatened a multitude of untold consequences.
Unlikely allies from both sides of the traditional “abortion” debate have come together in opposition to Prop 26, Mississippi’s egg-as-person initiative.
Poor quality maternity care, abuse by health workers, and health systems that are unaccountable to pregnant women and mothers all can subvert efforts brimming over with resources and political will.
There is a subtle message–often coming from other women–that to truly experience childbirth, women must eschew medical interventions, including pain medication, and go “natural.” But some women are happy to put their deliveries in the hands of the medical establishment with its rules and regulations, its operating rooms, its NICUs, and its drugs. That’s a good choice, too.
The pro-choice movement and the birthing community alike are waking up to the fact that abortion rights and the rights of childbearing women are inextricably linked.
I am concerned about the lack of coverage for the daily violation of women’s rights that occurs on the labor and delivery unit.
A new short documentary from Al Jazeera English, Birthrights: The Risk of Choice, examines the prevalence and safety of cesarean sections in the United States, and the many players within the maternity care system.
