Politics of Childbirth

Childbirth Connection has thrown its support behind the House's health care reform bill because it takes a big step toward widening access to evidence-based maternity care.

A spirited group of protesters gathered outside New York Gov. David Paterson's office today elicited the governor's promise to sign legislation that would prohibit the shackling of incarcerated pregnant women during labor and after delivery.

Indifference to maternal mortality is closely related to indifference to women’s reproductive rights.

Only four states have policies that bar the shackling of pregnant women in prisons, jails, and detention centers.
With nearly unanimous legislative support for the Anti-Shackling Bill,
New York looks like its on the verge of becoming the fifth state to
restrict a practice that is considered torture by the United
Nations--but only if Governor Dave Paterson allows it into law. Urge Governor Paterson to sign the bill at the Anti-Shackling Rally on July 9.

Thanks to a history of expansive access to midwifery care and a number of big legislative gains, low-income women in Washington State now have more birthing options than most women around the country.

This Mother's Day, instead of lining up on one side of the breast- vs. bottle-feeding debate or another, let's question why society isn't providing mothers with more options to make the decisions mamas believe are best for them and their babies.

Upwardly-mobile moms may finally be catching on to the benefits of midwifery and homebirth, but low-income women are still firmly planted in the hospital, most often with medicalized births overseen by doctors.

Women are not "electing" to put their babies at risk by choosing c-section. Women being backed into a corner and told what's best, then publicly shamed for "asking for it."

America is overspending and under-serving women and families. The problem is not access to care; it is the care itself.