My letter to Dr. Laura

I'm a labor doula, a non-medical childbirth assistant. Today you had a caller ask about her desires to birth her baby in a free-standing birth center and I have some issues with your responses.

I find it appalling that such an influential woman such as yourself would commend cesareans so nonchalantly when the procedure is at epidemic levels. In the U.S. 31.1% of live births are delivered by cesarean, which is more than three times the safe level for a developed country. Cesareans are causing more harm in this country than good, and nonchalantly commending them for non-medical reasons is only going to compound the problem. Women won't realize that childbirth is a consumer activity until the media personalities make it clear. Women shouldn't be given false security in the safety of cesareans. The surgery is much more dangerous than a vaginal birth unless there is a true emergency or good medical reason for it. If you look into the research and the experiences had by women who have had cesareans, it's apparent that change needs to be made.

Second, out-of-hospital births are actually SAFER than hospital births for low-risk women. The majority of women have low-risk pregnancies. It is actually safer to have a baby at home, if you are low risk, than to have your baby in the hospital. Suggesting that all women give birth in hospitals "just in case" is preaching a distrust in women's bodies and God's design. Hospitals have higher infection rates and higher intervention rates for low-risk women than do home births. Also, infections obtained because of the hospital environment are more likely to be antibiotic-resistant and more problematic. Hospitals oftentimes CAUSE problems for low-risk women that wouldn't have been present in a midwife-attended homebirth or at a free-standing birth center.

Women in this country have more choices regarding pregnancy and childbirth than they ever have had in the past. It is imperitive to the continuation of our rights and safety during childbirth that we educate ourselves and others about the facts of our alternatives. Blindly following the propaganda of the last two hundred years' medical professionals' touting their expertise and knowledge over OUR bodies and babies is scientifically and socially unfounded.
Women/consumers need to understand where science and medicine really can help them and where it is all just bells and whistles and self-preservation. High cesarean rates are not safe for women, high intervention rates are not safe for women, all women having hospital births are not safe for women. We can see all of this by looking at other countries and at the medical and scientific research on the subject.

That's my opinion. I chose to become a doula because I want to help women make informed choices. I don't want to choose what is best for any one person. I only want to help women be smart consumers and to have safe, empowering births.

Thank you,

Christina Rochette