I\'m Summer, a mouthy, sarcastic bitch. I\'m passionate about natural birth, long term breastfeeding, and living naturally. I curse too much, love tattoos, and will some day be crushed to death by my book collection. I homeschool, dream of gardening, and swing to the left. 
The Dangers Of Childbirth In America
Since The Business Of Being Born has came out on Netflix childbirth in America has been a very popular subject. Childbirth is a huge business here in the states, one that many are looking at new eyes. We are often told how safe and wonderful birth in a hospital setting is, the drugs to ease the pain and the doctors and machines protecting us against all the dangers. And yet the more we learn the more we see that is just an illusion.
As Amy points out women are dying in the US. It’s the dirty little secret of the medical industry, one they work hard to keep under wraps. We have the second highest maternal death rate right here. In the country boasting advanced medical care and amazing leaps forward in science mothers are being killed and swept under the rug.
The maternal death rate in the United States is the highest it’s been in decades – 13 deaths per 100,000 live births and, even more startling, for black women 34.7 deaths per 100,000, in 2004. Gaskin asserts it also may be seriously underreported. According to the Center for Disease Control in 1998, “there is so much misclassification in the US system of maternal death reporting that the actual number could be as much as three times greater than the number officially published each year.”
But do we hear on the news about these women dying? Only if the deaths are related to a home birth or midwife. Maybe I’m outing myself as a conspiracy nut, but it seems that those who are charge of protecting women seem to be connected with those who make money off of them. We have already seen this mixture of politics and medicine in our country with the Govenor Rick Perry/Gardisal controversy. Perry was the one to push for manditory Gardasil vaccinations for all girls in Texas. He also has strong ties to groups that Merck lobbies through as well as receiving political donations from Merck. Is it really so hard to imagine similar things happening in the birth arena?
I wanted to end this on an uplifting note, something inspiring and encouraging. The Safe Motherhood Quilt Project is just what we need right now. This powerful project, created by the famous Ima May Gaskin helps us to remember the women who have died from childbirth, the women not mentioned on the news or discussed in the real childbirth debates (unlike the fake debate that I won’t even link here, you know who you are).
The quilt is made up of individually designed squares; each one devoted to a woman in the U.S. who has died of pregnancy-related causes since 1982. One quilt square is designed and dedicated to each mother’s memory and may mention the date and place of death and the name of the woman. The Safe Motherhood Quilt is the voice for women who can no longer speak for themselves.
[tags]childbirth, birth, medicine, politics, women, life[/tags]
You may also want to check out a new film that is coming out – “Orgasmic Birth”. Ina May Gaskin speaks in the film, and has recently talking about the film in the news. You can see the website at http://www.orgasmicbirth.com
Trish’s last blog post..Arp on TV?
There is more reason to comment than ever before! Great post! I searched for a while to find the right answer to my questions!