This was originally posted on October 29, 2009.
I just finished watching the movie Ghosts of Mississippi. Being an Ohioan, I still have a hard time believing that there are people in the South that still think the way that they do about people of color and of the Jewish faith. The movie is based on a true story and a man that was assassinated in 1963, only 8 years before I was born. It was horrifying to me that the man who was finally found guilty had been flaunting his proud kill for nearly 30 years before they were able to convict him.
While I was watching the movie an email showed up on my phone from one of the lists that I’m on. A woman who is 39 weeks along and wanting to attempt a VBAC was told by her doctor today (a Saturday!) that she had scheduled a c-section for this woman next Wednesday unless she went into labor before then. The doctor also informed her that if she did not show up for the surgical removal of her new baby she would be recorded as non-compliant and would be reported to Child Protective Services. Civil rights? Since when did we hand over the right for our child to choose his or her own birth to these “care providers”? Why do these “care providers” think that they know better than our babies when it is time for them to come out? There are times when a baby needs to be removed early – but they are RARE and not just because the mother happened to have a previous cesarean. Why isn’t anyone (except for the women that these crimes are perpetrated on and sometimes their families) outraged at their behavior? Judges sign court orders for completely unnecessary surgeries before the mother even has a chance to get an atty, the surgery is done and over before she can argue her case or rebut the orders. How is that NOT a violation of our civil rights?? Why aren’t civil rights attorneys lining up to take these cases to court?
Why? Because they are un-winnable cases. The doctors have medical-ease that the judge and jury (if there is one) aren’t likely to understand. The doctors will make sure to explain it skewed in their favor. They claim the need for cesareans because of unstable heart tones as shown on the external fetal monitor. However, they don’t explain that the pitocin they insisted the patient needed may have caused those heart tones. Or the epidural that was necessitated by the pitocin may have caused those heart tone. Or simply the fact that the mother has been kept in a bed flat on her back with nothing to eat or drink for hours!
The doctors claim they are only operating in the best interest of the child. How is evicting a newborn baby from the womb of his or her mother before that baby is ready? Labor starts on it’s own exactly when the baby is ready. When the baby’s lungs are ready they release a hormone that sends a signal to the mother’s body that it time for labor to start. During labor the baby and the mother both receive a variation of hormones designed specifically for labor and birth. If you skip that entire process by removing the baby surgically before labor begins they both loose out on those beneficial hormones and the baby’s lungs may not be ready. If you interrupt that process by insisting that it isn’t moving fast enough they both loose out on those beneficial hormones and the mother’s body may not be ready to give birth.
Why can’t these “care providers” be patient?
“Midwives see birth as a miracle and only mess with it if there is a problem; doctors see birth as a problem and if they don’t mess with it, it’s a miracle!” - Barbara Harper, Gentle Birth Choices
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