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is itself a part of
God's creation!
When you have such ideas about
childbirth, you gain a new per–
spective: if at all possi ble, child–
birth should be a natural, fam i–
ly-centered event - not the
sc ience-fiction technolog i cal
nightmare it can be in many
hospitals.
A letter to America's famous
advice columnist " Dear Abby"
was informative in this regard.
The new mother had been
involved in a natural childbirth
program at lllinois' Masonic Hos–
pital in Chicago. The whole fami–
ly was allowed lo be present. She
wrote, "Our children will grow
up to respect the miracle of preg–
nancy and childbirth as a sacred
gift from God , instead of some–
thing to get rid of."
The Natura l Childbirth Move ment
One of the few healthy social
trends to come out of the 1960s
and 1970s was increasing demand
for natural ch ildbirth. Natural
child birth is simply keeping
interference in the birth process
ICI
a mínimum. ldeal ly, no spinal
blocks, no leg st raps, no drugs or
anesthetics are required.
Preferably, it does not happen
in a hospital, but in the mother's
own home or an "alternative' '
birth cli nic (though there are a
few hospitals, here and there,
which
do
support natural child–
birth). Fathers actually partici–
pate in the birth, instead of bei ng
shunted to the proverbial hospital
12
room to while away the time in
nervous pacing.
Of cou rse, natu ral, or ' 'alterna–
t ive" birth (as its supporters call
it) does carry a degree of risk
should complication occur. Prob–
a bly the wo rs t danger is the
mother 's post-bi rth b leed ing.
Other dangers involve the umbili–
cal cord-if it s lips out o f the
mother before it should, or if it
gets wrapped around the baby's
neck or under an arm. In such
cases, having hospital facilities
nearby becomes important.
Alternative birth advocates,
point out , however , that around
90 percent of a ll pregnancies do
not experience such complica-
tions. Moreover, sorne home bi r th
specialist s, such as Phoenix , Ari –
zona·s, "Baby Buggy•· unit , are
eq uipping large vans and motor
homes with much of the equip–
ment hospitals provide, allowi ng a
lower risk home birth.
Consuma r De mand
Part of the increased demand for
alternative birth s tems from the
growth of feminism a nd th e
desire of many women to reclaim
cont rol over their own pregnan–
cies from a mostly male medica!
"establishment." Another pa rt of
the demand carne from a growing
preference on the part of society
as a whole for "natural" things.
And part of it, one would hope,
also stemmcd from people who
realized thc
religious implica–
rions
of childbirth.
However, the most
immediare
reason for thc demand for natural
childbirth is its superiority,
ar
leasr for normal pregnancies,
over standard hospital deliverics.
For one thing, it is very com-
mon to speak of the U n ited
States ' "scandalously" high in–
fant mortality rates. By contrast
other countries, such as Sweden ,
Britain and Holland, which make
greater use of midwives and gen–
erally use less drugs in pregnan–
cies, have much better rates.
Observes one German obstetri–
cian, "The Dutch, with the high–
est proportion of home births in
The PLAIN TRUTH