The AMA has recently issued a resolution supporting ACOG’s Statement on Homebirth which agrees that the safest place to have a baby is the hospital, of course, where obstetricians work and get paid. What’s really awful is that they’re using Ricki Lake’s movie, The Business of Being Born, as a tool to try to pass laws that would mandate that all births occur in hospitals, since hospitals are the “safest” place to give birth. Nevermind that in this country (at least for now) all women have the right to make their own choices about their bodies and the health care they receive, or the fact that the U.S. has one of the worst rates of neonatal and maternal mortality among developed countries and that (wow, what a surprise) 90% of all our birth occur in hospitals, or that other countries with much better mortality rates wholeheartedly support and embrace homebirth and that there is strong evidence-based research which backs this up. Nevermind all that. In this country, it’s money that does the talking, and money which sets the agenda and passes laws….and now, the AMA, with all its money, has unsurprisingly agreed with ACOG’s ridiculous statement.
The Huffington Post has an article up detailing all of the furor, along with a raging debate in the comments section. Please, if you care about this even a little bit, visit the article and post a comment. The more comments the Huffington Post receives, the higher the likelihood that they’ll move the article to their “favorites” section, which will keep the article up on their website for days. The more comments and press this topic gest in the blogosphere and in the media, the more women will hear this message, and the more this subject will become part of our national debate. Every comment counts! Here’s the link again: Docs to women: Pay no attention to Ricki Lake’s homebirth
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