Let Us Not Talk Falsely Now

"News" of particular interest to those of us In the Family Way:

The Business of Being Born, a documentary about home births and the current maternity care system in U.S. hospitals, was recently released on NetFlix. (Jefe has graciously offered to let me watch it on his laptop via his account -- stay tuned for a review once I've seen it.)

Days before the release of the DVD, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a press release reiterating its long-standing opposition to home births, warning women about the perils of letting their birth choices be "dictated or influenced by what's fashionable, trendy, or the latest cause célèbre," because "[d]espite the rosy picture painted by home birth advocates, a seemingly normal labor and delivery can quickly become life-threatening for both the mother and baby."

In other news, four major SUV manufacturers issued a joint statement reiterating their long-standing opposition to "dangerously small" fuel-efficient vehicles, and early findings in a study funded by McDonalds show that home kitchens are far less sanitary than those in restaurants and can put families at needless risk of potentially lethal food poisoning.

Of course I made that other stuff up, but only to make a point: would you readily believe as gospel a statement issued by any other organization that stood to make millions of dollars by convincing you of its viewpoint?

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This just in: asked to comment about the documentary and the statement issued by the ACOG, Amish communities across the country expressed their collective sense of shame and dismay at having discovered they've been unwittingly doing something trendy for more than three hundred years. More news as the story develops.
 

Comments

[kristen]

fashionable, trendy birth choices... i thought that's what elective c-sections were? something about not wanting to have to go through pain?

trendy?

what?

hey, pain is the new black.