Background Information About ACOG's Anti-Midwife Smear Campaign

Ever since the release of the documentary film The Business of Being Born by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein, there has been a nationwide increased interest in un-medicated birth and home birth. Along with this surge of interest, there has also been some serious backlash from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists. In the article below, you can read some background of this anti-midwife smear campaign:

“The Perils of Journalism:” Ricki and Abby’s Response to the Today Show

For more information, please see my earlier post:
Physicians Take Anti-Midwife Smear Campaign to the Airwaves

Birth Movie Screening Event

This a major event including the screening of three amazing childbirth films: Orgasmic Birth, The Business of Being Born, and Pregnant in America, and the producer of Orgasmic Birth will be at the screening as well!

Date: June 13, 2009
Location: Towne Cinema Theaters in American Fork, UT
Cost: $25
What: Screening of Orgasmic Birth, Pregnant in America, The Business of Being Born, Special Guest Speaker, Debra Pascali-Bonaro
Email: moviescreening@rawmelissa.com if you have questions

For more information or to order your ticket you can send an email to the email address listed above, or please visit my doula trainer, Melissa's blog. Feel free to distribute information about this on your own blog, email your friends, and tell everyone you know about this amazing event! We are trying to get the word out to as many people as possible.

Mothering Magazine Interviews Ricki Lake about The Business of Being Born

I've blogged about this film many times before, but I just have to keep mentioning it, because I think it is so wonderful and informative about childbirth! I was browsing The Business of Being Born website this morning and found that Mothering Magazine interviewed Ricki Lake about the film and her upcoming book, co-written with Abby Epstein. The interview was recorded and is available to listen to on the Mothering Magazine website. It's a wonderful interview, and I was touched by Ricki's passion. I feel the same passion for pregnancy and childbirth, and I applaud Ricki and Abby for the amazing work they are doing to inform the public about childbirth options. Please take a few minutes to listen to the interview, and if you have not seen the documentary film yet, I urge you to get a copy of it and watch it. It could change your life!

BOBB Newsletter, Including News from Brazil with 93% Cesarean Rate for Middle Class Women

I know I post about The Business of Being Born a lot, and it's because they are doing such wonderful things in advocating birth options and education for women. Their film is part of what has motivated me to be so active in this pursuit. They have released their most recent newsletter. To go directly to the newsletter, click HERE. There is a ton of new information, and you should take a moment to see what's going on.

The most interesting part of the newsletter for me is the report from Abby's trip to Brazil. Most industrialized countries have a c-section rate of about 30%, which is astronomical considering that only as much as 15-20% of births have a medical indication for c-section. Brazil, as a whole, is extremely baby and family-oriented, so it's incredibly surprising that in Brazil's middle and upper classes the cesarean rate is about 93%! Abby's report gives some interesting information about why this is, and contrary to popular belief it's not the doctors that are pushing for the surgeries; it's the women. Please take some time to read it, and let me know what you think!