Today the midwifery community celebrated International Midwives Day by holding a rally on the steps of the State Capitol. It was very well organized by a committee of midwives.
The speakers were great. We heard from homebirth moms, dads and a sibling (my favorite being an articulate 13 year old girl who was born premature in the hospital, and witnessed her sister and brother born at home. She has got a future in public speaking!) We also heard from a couple of representatives who had homebirths, as well as some midwives and student midwives.
The keynote speaker was Jennifer Block who wrote the book "Pushed". This is my favorite book about the history of birth. She has never had a child herself but told the story of the first birth she attended and how it fueled her passion to research and write about birth practices. She told some sobering statistics. Currently the United States is ranked 50 out of 59 industrialized countries in maternal death. She also talked about the increasing rates of cesareans and how when hospitals are built or remodeled they are built to sustain a 50% cesarean rate. She stated that in relation to birth we are in a health care crisis! I've been trying to scream this fact for quite awhile now! I agree with Jennifer when she says the United States is OVERSPENDING and UNDERSERVING.
Attending the rally in Salem today was a positive experience for me and very inspiring.
We still need to get more consumers out there to support this cause. It was great to have so many people today but the vast majority were midwives. Real change can only happen when YOU the consumer stand up in masses and fight for your right to have a natural birth, breech birth, VBAC, twin birth, unmedicated birth, insurance paid birth, a gentle, non-invasive, midwife attended birth.
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