Via The Lactivist and Women’s Health News, there is a new documentary in the works entitled Pregnant in America which explores the medicalization of birth and the creation of the birth industry—the American birth machine—for profit and corporate gain, often at the expense of the health (and sometimes lives) of women and babies in this country. From the website itself:
- Pregnant in America examines the betrayal of humanity’s greatest gift—birth—by the greed of US corporations. Hospitals, insurance companies and other members of the healthcare industry have all pushed aside the best care of our infants and mothers to play the power game of raking in huge profits.His wife pregnant, first-time filmmaker Steve Buonaugurio sets out to create a film that will expose the underside of the U.S. childbirth industry and help end its neglectful exploitation of pregnancy and birth.
Pregnant in America is the controversial story of life’s greatest miracle in the hands of the nation’s most powerful interests
Looks quite fascinating, and I can’t wait to see this film. Not that any of this is news, since it’s already something that midwives have been aware of and fighting against for years, but perhaps this documentary will help raise more widespread awareness of this issue. To view the trailer, visit the links above.