The AMA vs Homebirth

As a woman and homebirther, this really hits home. I've had 2 children in the hospital and they were experiences I lived through. Although loathing the interventionist hospital staff and having to fight them off of me and my newborn was reason enough but the desire to home-birth also originated with necessity...I birth quickly and was too far from a hospital to avoid the ever dreaded "car-birth".

My first birth was horrible. I arrived at 8cm quickly progress to 9cm, I was crowning and told to wait for the Dr. I didn't fall under the first time mother/1cm/hr rule and threw them for a loop. The Dr. ran into the room and within seconds was prep'ing me for an unnecessary episiotomy that took over a year to recover from. I was in the hospital less than an hour before I gave birth...no medication, no complications... 4 pushes and baby was out, I never even started to push when I was cut. Number 2? When you are in the hospital for less than 5 minutes and have to physically fight a nurse who wants to attach an EFM for NO medical reason, only to give birth 20 minutes later, it's traumatizing to have someone YELLING at you and physically struggling with you when you are in transition.

I chose wisely as my 3rd labor and delivery was 35minutes long and my 4th about 45min. Homebirth filled the need but it also became so much more. To have the choice to be comfortable, in my own home and without the fear of being treated like a stupid diseased person, is empowering. It's comforting to know that no one is going to try to commandeer my body, take my baby away for any amount of time,or in any way, usurp my own mothering abilities by trying to take over for me. Birthing women aren't flawed or broken. Most don't need to be rescued and many of them that do need rescuing are in need because of unnecessary medical interventions. It is well documented that the risk for complications rises dramatically with every well intended and requested intervention.

There are people, times, and places for hospital births. It's just not for everyone. Women deserve to feel comfortable and safe in the birthing location of their choice. If that's in a hospital, more power to you. If it's at home, so be it.

With that I leave you with this:

Introduced by: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Subject: Home Deliveries

Referred to: Reference Committee B
(Craig W. Anderson, MD, Chair)



Whereas, Twenty-one states currently license midwives to attend home births, all using the certified professional midwife (CPM) credential (CPM or "lay” midwives), not the certified midwives (CM) credential which both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM) recognize ; and

Whereas, There has been much attention in the media by celebrities having home deliveries, with recent Today Show headings such as “Ricki Lake takes on baby birthing industry: Actress and former talk show host shares her at-home delivery in new film” ; and

Whereas, An apparently uncomplicated pregnancy or delivery can quickly become very complicated in the setting of maternal hemorrhage, shoulder dystocia, eclampsia or other obstetric emergencies, necessitating the need for rigorous standards, appropriate oversight of obstetric providers, and the availability of emergency care, for the health of both the mother and the baby during a delivery; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association support the recent American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) statement that “the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers” (New HOD Policy); and be it further

RESOLVED, That our AMA develop model legislation in support of the concept that the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the AAP and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers.” (Directive to Take Action)

Fiscal Note: Implement accordingly at estimated staff cost of $1,929.

Received: 04/28/08

and in response, this petition:

The petition
Whereas, women maintain the basic human rights of privacy, bodily integrity, and the rights to choose their care provider and place of birth;

Whereas, the practice of giving birth in hospitals attended by doctors has coincided with rapidly rising rates of cesarean section, induction, epidural, and surgically assisted vaginal birth;

Whereas, many of the physicians attending births in the hospital setting have contributed to the rise of the use of the aforementioned interventions, and have been unable or unwilling to change their training and practices to reverse these trends;

Whereas, the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' positions against home birth are not based on scientific evidence, but on the financial and professional concerns of the physicians that participate in their organizations;

Whereas, for the past century certain physicians have carried out campaigns to eradicate the practice of home birth to support their own professional gain;

Whereas, home birth with either a Certified Nurse Midwife or a Certified Professional Midwife in attendance is scientifically proven to have outcomes equal to or better than hospital birth with fewer interventions and higher levels of satisfaction;

Resolved, that the undersigned concerned citizens object to any legislation, either at the state or national level, which restricts a woman's right to choose her place to give birth, including her right to choose to birth at home.