Category Archives: Politics

Recession relief: midwifery saves money

By The Midwife | Published: December 30, 2008

Let’s face it: the economy sucks right now.  We haven’t yet hit rock bottom, and it’s going to be awhile (probably a long while) before things begin to recover.  In the midst of this harsh financial reality, companies and industries are scrambling to find ways to save money.  Birth activists have been trying for decades [...]

Also posted in Birth Centers, Issues, Labor and Birth, Midwifery, Women's Health | 2 Comments

Newsworthy 11/11/08

By The Midwife | Published: November 11, 2008

One week after our historic election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, here’s a very interesting article on what his presidency might mean for Women’s Health (of the non-”airquotes” variety), namely improved access to birth control and sex education (i.e. the federal government no longer funding abstinence-only programs), a reversal [...]

Also posted in Choice, Complications, Contraception, Education, Feminism, Labor and Birth, Pregnancy, Research, Sex and Sexuality, Women's Health | 4 Comments

New hope for South Dakota

By The Midwife | Published: October 25, 2008

As reported by the Daily Kos, a rigorous new poll shows that Measure 11, South Dakota’s latest attempt to ban abortion, might not pass as easily as everyone originally thought.  South Dakota’s initial attempt to ban abortion in 2006 was defeated by 56% to 44%, mainly because the bill included no exceptions for victims of [...]

Also posted in Choice, Feminism, Women's Health | 3 Comments

The AMA joins ACOG in homebirth-bashing

By The Midwife | Published: June 21, 2008

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 [...]

Also posted in Homebirth, Labor and Birth, Midwifery, News | 1 Comment

ACOG’s Statement on Homebirths

By The Midwife | Published: February 11, 2008

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recently issued a Statement on Homebirth which condemns homebirth and all those who are willing to attend homebirth (aka midwives), concluding that only “…the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate postpartum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that [...]

Also posted in Birth Centers, Choice, Homebirth, Hospitals, Labor and Birth | 2 Comments

Barack Obama

By The Midwife | Published: February 4, 2008

I’ve sort of fallen off of the blogging bandwagon, but what’s the point of a blog if you can’t be political with it? So, with that in mind, we now take a break from our regularly scheduled midwifery for this brief political message: I’m voting for Barack Obama I like the fact that he’s run [...]

Posted in Politics | 3 Comments

Grassroots Birth Survey

By The Midwife | Published: December 5, 2007

The other day I discovered a postcard at my local yoga center urging women to participate in a birth survey, which instantly piqued my interest; apparently this survey has already been going on for some time, although I have only now heard about it. A little research has revealed that the Coalition for Improving Maternity [...]

Also posted in Birth Centers, Choice, Homebirth, Hospitals, Midwifery, Pregnancy, Research | 1 Comment

Those people

By The Midwife | Published: November 16, 2007

I got an e-mail the other day from a colleague at work who was passing on to a whole bunch of us a forwarded e-mail that she had received. Here’s the content of what the e-mail said. It was entitled “Urine Dip”: Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I [...]

Also posted in The Soapbox | 9 Comments

Female Genital Circumcision revisited

By The Midwife | Published: November 1, 2007

A few weeks ago, Dark Daughta over at One Tenacious Baby Mama asked me for a contribution to her new weekly series entitled Reloaded, which happens every Sunday and features old posts that are worth posting and reading a second time (oldies but goodies, as she calls them). She wanted posts that I was particularly [...]

Also posted in Choice, Education, Feminism, Myth, Folklore and Ritual, Sex and Sexuality, Violence Against Women | Leave a comment

Birth in developing countries

By The Midwife | Published: October 21, 2007

The BBC has put together an amazing series of articles on birth and maternal mortality in developing countries. This year, at the half-way mark towards the Millenium Goals set for 2015, we’re not even close to reaching the desired 75% reduction in maternal mortality. These articles explore the reasons behind these failures: everything from lack [...]

Also posted in Complications, Demise, Issues, Labor and Birth, Midwifery, Pregnancy | 3 Comments