Ricki and Jennifer Block the AMA

Isn’t it great how things line up sometimes? First, Betty-Anne Daviss and Ken Johnson lead the CPM 2000 statistical collection. The British Medical Journal published the good news. Canada and Britain took the results seriously and began improving their maternity care policies immediately. (Even though Canada has the best infant survival rate in the Americas. That’s how you have good outcomes.) Then, Ricki Lake makes her cathartic and timely film, The Business of Being Born.
And now we have Debra Pascali-Bonaro’s Orgasmic Birth film. The crème for the top, you might say.

Whereas, Canada, the UK and many European countries respond to evidence with action, the US seems to wait for media attention. Suddenly, what has been being done behind closed doors is exposed–and so are the tempers!

The American Medical Association raises its hoary head and roars against humble midwives who expose the truth only by the simplicity of quality care.

Hey, if Cuba can beat US infant survival rate with 10 times less spending on average medical expenses per citizen, there should be no further surprise that independent, low-tech, high-touch midwives help parents with brilliant birth outcomes.

First, we wonder what’s wrong with maternity services here. And suddenly we find the physician’s power club racing to suppress the competition. No competition; no pressure to improve. Business, as usual.

Not so usual, however. There was a day when the family doctor or rising obstetrician would not induce a woman unless there was clear harm in waiting. Surgery was for life saving, not profit margins.

The March of Dimes sounds the alarm against the new epidemic of late preterm births and the resulting rise in infant death in the first year of life because of this. Is anyone listening?

For doctors, induction and scheduled cesarean are a strategy against malpractice premiums and litigation costs. For parents, interventions without immediate need can bring unforseen sorrow. Maternal death is more common now in the US than it was in the 1970s. Cytotec and rising cesarean surgeries being two leading reasons.

Home birth in Minnesota and the US occur in only .5 percent of the 4 million births a year in this country. The AMA is right to fear this tiny splinter peeling from their fortress wall. With media coverage, intelligent women
are starting to notice.

You can sign Citizens for Midwives’ petition to the AMA to block their efforts against women’s rights and scientific evidence.