Is Birth a Feminist Issue?

Women in childbirth have a variety of experiences. As a doula I try to make that transition into motherhood as positive as it can be. The biggest obstacle to having a “good birth” is the mindset we have inherited from not only our families but from society. Mothers are told to expect pain and suffering and to embrace narcotics to avoid the natural sensations of labor and birth, Instead of being taught good coping skills and making labor and birth a team effort. The medical establishment has taken birth as their own away from women, from mothers and from midwives and from montrices, and made it more paternalistic and interventionist and modern.

To think of giving birth as a feminist issue takes some people a little getting used to. Labor and birth are parts of many women's lives but even those who are not mothers can take to heart this issue on other levels. By modernizing or medicalizing a natural event and perverting it does not empower women to make sound choices in their healthcare. It teaches them to be afraid of their bodies and of change and of trusting their internal minds and instincts. Some women have become so frightened of the labor process they are seeking out voluntary cesarean sections, i.e. major abdominal surgery, to forgo trusting their bodies.

With my efforts, and the efforts of many other women in my area, we are trying to bring the focus of labor and birth back to where it began. Making babies is messy. Having babies is messy. Life is messy.