Month: September 2007

Breastfeeding and Feminism Symposium

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Next week I am attending the Breastfeeding and Feminism Symposium in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is the third year this event is happening, and to my delight this year’s topic is Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice. The Symposium is being sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Greensboro, specifically the Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care and the Center for Women’s Health and Wellness.

I’m looking forward to seeing how these advocates, educators and breastfeeding specialists bring in other reproductive justice issues into their work on breastfeeding. I will be live blogging from the Symposium, so stay tuned for more from the presentations next week.

Go here for more information about the Symposium. If you happen to be in the North Carolina area next week, think about attending!

Take a day off to procreate

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This one is almost too much to take seriously. Apparently, September 12 was Conception Day in one region of Russia–the fifth year that Governor Sergei Morozov has used a half day off from work and a series of cash and gift prizes to encourage procreation for his dwindling region of Russia.

During what some experts are deeming a population crisis caused by too much population growth in already overpopulated parts of the world, other countries, predominantly white countries like Italy, France and Russia are having trouble reproducing at a replacement rate.

But anyways, back to the ridiculous Conception Day in Russia. According to an article at MSNBC, in addition to getting time off from work (presumably to have sex), if a woman does give birth 9 months after Conception Day, she and her husband can win a multitude of prizes, including a car.

This isn’t the first time a Western European country has tried to use incentives to encourage procreation. In Romania they used to give women special titles for having multiple children (we’re talking upwards of 5). In response to a recent trend in European countries having negative population growth, I expect that these tactics will continue to evolve and develop.

What does it mean for a government to manipulate women’s bodies for political reasons? The fertility of marginalized populations (women of color, incarcerated women, disabled women) has been controlled in the past (and continues to be controlled). Sterilization practices, welfare family caps, two child policies all are ways the government uses to discourage certain populations from reproducing. Similarly, initiatives like this procreation day are one way the government has of encouraging other groups to reproduce. Both tactics smack of eugenics and racism, as well as nationalistic sentiment and the geopolitics of population.

These concerns around population growth and the environment are a great example of what is meant by the term reproductive justice–where reproductive rights intersect with another social justice issue–environmental activism.

Woman gives birth on US/Mexico Border

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This story from the Houston Chronicle online reports that a border patrol agent helped a woman give birth on the banks of the Rio Grande River, on the border between Texas and Mexico.

The story is brief, and simply reports that the agent does not know whether the woman and the man accompanying her were undocumented or not, but this is just one example of what immigration in this country has devolved into.

A few years ago I worked as an advocate for Latina immigrant women in Pennsylvania, most of whom were here without documents. I helped them find prenatal care, apply for emergency medical assistance and care for their newborn children. The stories that I would hear from these women were terrifying. The trials and tribulations of crossing the border, usually in unsafe conditions, quite of few of them pregnant while crossing.

One can only imagine the desperation that would lead a woman to attempt such a crossing at nine months pregnant. One woman I worked with had ridden for hours in the trunk of a car with a few other men to cross. Countless women are abused by the people they pay (huge sums) to bring them over (called coyotes), as well as their travelling partners and I’m sure some border patrol officials once they arrive in the United States. Death rates on the border are high, with people getting lost in the desert, and dying of starvation and dehydration.

The situation with immigration continues to deteriorate, and Bush’s calls to heighten border security and build million dollar fences will not alleviate the problem. We need humane and reasonable immigration policies, that don’t discriminate against the people we rely on for manual labor, who keep this country running by working in the factories, fields, restaurants and hotels.

BE BOLD: Birth on Labor Day

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I went to an impressive play last night, written by Karen Brody entitled Birth. It’s like a Vagina Monologues, but about childbirth. Eight women, sitting on stage, sharing their birth stories with the audience and each other. Karen wrote the play after talking to over a hundred women around the United States about their childbirth experiences.

The play is being staged internationally this month, in honor of labor day and as part of a “global movement to make maternity care child friendly.”

The production in New York City, directed by Helen Marshall, was really great–an amazing group of professional actresses made up the cast. I attended a rehearsal for the show the week prior (Karen recommends that they have doulas at every rehearsal, to serve as birth “experts”) and then participated in a panel after the show, with some other great NYC birth activists, including midwife Laura Zeidenstein, doula and nurse Patricia Rangeli and Erica Lyon, the founder of Real Birth.

You can check out this page to see if there is going to be a BOLD production in your area, and think about participating next year.

My favorite line of the play: <a conversation between midwife and laboring mom>

Laboring woman: It hurts like hell!
Midwife: Great! That’s exactly how it’s supposed to feel!

Washington Post reports that childbirth deaths are on the rise

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The Washington Post reported yesterday that maternal mortality rates are on the rise (based on statistics from 2003). The article throws out a couple of ideas as to why (rising c-section rates, obesity, maternal age increases). These statistics have been used by birth advocates as evidence of the failure of the US model of maternity care, which sometimes puts the mother at more risk. The US consistently ranks at the bottom of developing countries when it comes to infant mortality.

The hardest thing to understand is how in this day and age, in a modern hospital with doctors and nurses, that somebody can just die like that.

I think those of us working with birth in today’s hospital could think of a few reasons why. Interventions done in the name of safety can have more complications than the birth itself. More drugs and more surgeries mean more risk to the mother and child.  

Some researchers point to the rising C-section rate, now 29 percent of all births–far higher than what public health experts say is appropriate. Like other surgeries, Caesareans come with risks related to anesthesia, infections and blood clots.

In addition we have major health disparities which mean that some women get excellent and consistent reproductive health care, and others get almost none. We have to find low cost and reasonable solutions for our health care crisis, and some states, like Florida, have caught on to the bright idea that alternative models of maternity care can save money. Midwifery care, because it is based on a minimal intervention model works extremely well for the average woman, and seriously reduces costs.

It’s becoming increasing obvious that our model of maternity care isn’t working–malpractice rates are through the roof, obstetricians are not delivering babies and women and children are still dying at rates that are higher than in other countries. Maybe someday soon we can start listening to the World Health Organization, who has consistently recommended cesarean and induction rates much lower than we currently have.  

Brittain looks to allow midwives and nurses to perform early abortions

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This article from the Independent today announces that some politicians in the UK are looking to expand women’s access to early abortions by allowing nurses and midwives to perform them.

MPs from all parties are to launch a campaign to modernise abortion law. They want to allow women to have early abortions on an “informed consent” basis and to allow trained nurses and midwives to carry out early abortions for the first time. They also want to expand the number of clinics offering early abortions so that women are no longer restricted to using centres officially licensed to carry out terminations.

A first trimester abortion is a very simple medical procedure (as well as one of the safest ones out there) and this isn’t the first time I’ve heard the idea to expand the definitions of who can perform these procedures. I’m not as familiar with the UK abortion climate, but here in the US, many of the laws regulating abortion providers are really meant to limit women’s access to abortion, rather than for their safety and protection. In the US, we are looking at a serious abortion provider shortage in the near future, with medical schools and students not being taught how to do the procedure.

The more authority midwives can gain to do medical procedures, particularly ones that have historically fallen under doctors domain, but are relatively simple. Plus, it will be a huge step forward toward increasing access to this important (and one of the most common) medical procedure for women.