Category Archives: Politics

Wax Study Revisited

By The Midwife | Published: October 9, 2011

Imagine the following scenario:  a meta-analysis comparing planned homebirths to planned hospital births is published, but it has so many statistical flaws in it that the journal which originally published it goes on to print several letters to the Editor critiquing the flawed research, in order to give the authors a second chance to explain [...]

Also posted in Choice, Complications, Homebirth, Hospitals, Issues, Labor and Birth, Midwifery, Research | 1 Comment

More Business of Being Born

By The Midwife | Published: August 24, 2011

Back in 2007, I was lucky enough to attend an advance screening of The Business of Being Born in New York City, and I wrote this review of it at the time.  Since then, it’s become widely popular and widely viewed, loudly praised and criticized by opposing sides of the birth debate, and has served as [...]

Also posted in Birth Centers, Education, Homebirth, Hospitals, Labor and Birth, Midwifery, News | Leave a comment

The Obstetrician’s Lament

By The Midwife | Published: May 19, 2011

There is an astounding collection of writing going up on The Unnecesarean regarding the growing rift between obstetricians and the out-of-hospital birth community.  All of this is in response to the The Obstetrician’s Lament, written by OB-GYN Anette Fineberg, MD, which came out in the May edition of ACOG’s Green Journal (Obstetrics and Gynecology).  I [...]

Also posted in Cesarean Birth, Complications, Hospitals, Journal Articles, Labor and Birth, VBAC | Leave a comment

CPM bill introduced in Congress

By The Midwife | Published: March 24, 2011

I have already written extensively on the differences between CNMs/ CMs and CPMs, about how there is a national divide between these qualifications which may prove very hard to bridge, and about how the lack of a unified standard of midwifery in the US continues to divide and destabilize our profession.  Part of the problem [...]

Also posted in Homebirth, Issues, Midwifery, News | Leave a comment

The Fight for Planned Parenthood

By The Midwife | Published: February 23, 2011

And now, on to the national scene.  As I’m sure everyone knows by now, the House voted last Friday 240 – 185 to defund Planned Parenthood, which has 800 clinics across the nation and provides thousands of women with family planning, birth control, STD treatment, pap smears, and primary gynecological health care annually (and yes, [...]

Also posted in Choice, Contraception, Feminism, Fertility and Conception, Primary Care, Women's Health | Leave a comment

Oh, South Dakota!

By The Midwife | Published: February 22, 2011

The good people of South Dakota had the sense to vote down referendums trying to outlaw abortion in 2006 and 2008.  However, there is a current bill still on the table (unfortunately not yet off the table) called H1171 which is taking the entire fight against abortion to a whole new level.  If abortion itself [...]

Also posted in Choice, Feminism, Women's Health | Leave a comment

AAP suggests possibility of “ritual nick” in place of FGC

By The Midwife | Published: May 11, 2010

In a controversial new statement, the American Academy o f Pediatrics (AAP) published a new policy statement on female genital cutting which suggested the possibility of doctors being allowed to perform a small, pinprick “ritual nick” in place of the more severe forms of female genital cutting (FGC).  FGC is a fairly common practice among [...]

Also posted in Violence Against Women | Leave a comment

A case in point…

By The Midwife | Published: May 4, 2010

…just to illustrate the bind that the homebirth midwives find themselves in at the moment after the closing of St. Vincents hospital and the subsequent loss of their back-up hospital/ written practice agreements (see yesterday’s post): Last night I was working (at the HHC public hospital in Brooklyn where I spend a good deal of [...]

Also posted in Complications, Homebirth, Hospitals, Issues, Labor and Birth, Litigation, Midwifery | Leave a comment

Homebirth in NYC needs your help!

By The Midwife | Published: May 3, 2010

St. Vincents hospital was the most homebirth-midwife friendly hospital in Manhattan, and quite possibly in New York City, period.  It was certainly the only hospital in Manhattan which accommodated homebirth and homebirth midwives.  My own midwife delivered her patients there, and she would often comment to me about what a lovely set-up they had at [...]

Also posted in Homebirth, Hospitals, Issues, Labor and Birth, Midwifery, News | Leave a comment

Lactivists v. Facebook

By The Midwife | Published: December 31, 2008

It’s snowing here, but here’s a little piece of news that will warm the cockles of your heart.  As we all know, there was a big stink over at Facebook awhile ago when they banned the pictures of nursing mothers, which then led to the formation of the facebook group Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding is Not [...]

Also posted in Breastfeeding, News | 1 Comment