The Business of Being Born
Andrea Lee | 14.05.2008 19:39 | Health
A Film about American birth culture. It explores the fundamental question of whether most births should be viewed as a natural life process, or treated as potential medical emergecies.
SPECIAL BENEFIT SCREENING OF “THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN”
Directed by Abby Epstein, Executive Produced by Ricki Lake
The Independent Midwives Association (IMA) is delighted to announce the Nottingham premiere of the documentary film ‘THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN’. Released and made in America last year it is a ‘must see’ for anyone with an interest in childbirth.
This special screening will take place saturday 24th May at the Broadway Cinema ,Hockley
For tickets and further information please visit www.saveindependentmidwifery.org
THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN
A DOCUMENTARY FILM DIRECTED BY ABBY EPSTEIN AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY RICKI LAKE
In 2001, actress Ricki Lake made the choice for a home birth after she experienced unwanted medical interventions while delivering her first child at a hospital birthing center. Ricki succeeded in giving birth on her own terms and the experience was so unexpectedly empowering and life-changing that she felt every woman should know what they could be missing out on.
Ricki approached filmmaker Abby Epstein to collaborate on a film that would examine birth culture in America, and ask questions about the way American women have babies.
Footage of women having babies punctuates THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN. Each experience is unique; all are equally beautiful and equally surprising. Giving birth is clearly the most physically challenging event these women have ever gone through, but it is also the most emotionally rewarding.
Along the way, Epstein conducts interviews with a number of obstetricians, experts and advocates about the history, culture and economics of childbirth. The film’s fundamental question: should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potential medical emergency?
The screening of this film has been planned to co-ordinate with the launch of the next phase of the campaign to save independent midwifery in the UK. Women need to know that this ‘gold standard’ of care should be one of their options in pregnancy and this film will give them the confidence to ask for it.
Midwifery care in this country would be revolutionised by taking it out of the acute medical sector and putting it back into the community. Some of it could then be delivered by self employed, independent midwives offering indivdualised, safe and appropriate care through a Social Enterprise Company, contracting into the NHS.
What is needed is a coalition of women and midwives to make it happen. Women must start demanding such care in sufficient numbers to push Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) executives to commission it. Midwives must be there ready to take up the challenge and offer it .
Over the years, various policy documents, reports and Health Ministers have highlighted the crucial role of midwives at the heart of the maternity services in this country. Time and again a new dawn is promised with women at the centre of care and yet the rhetoric is still not matched by the reality on the ground.
It is now time for the talking to stop and for policy to become action.
For more information go to www.saveindependentmidwifery.org or to www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com
Directed by Abby Epstein, Executive Produced by Ricki Lake
The Independent Midwives Association (IMA) is delighted to announce the Nottingham premiere of the documentary film ‘THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN’. Released and made in America last year it is a ‘must see’ for anyone with an interest in childbirth.
This special screening will take place saturday 24th May at the Broadway Cinema ,Hockley
For tickets and further information please visit www.saveindependentmidwifery.org
THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN
A DOCUMENTARY FILM DIRECTED BY ABBY EPSTEIN AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY RICKI LAKE
In 2001, actress Ricki Lake made the choice for a home birth after she experienced unwanted medical interventions while delivering her first child at a hospital birthing center. Ricki succeeded in giving birth on her own terms and the experience was so unexpectedly empowering and life-changing that she felt every woman should know what they could be missing out on.
Ricki approached filmmaker Abby Epstein to collaborate on a film that would examine birth culture in America, and ask questions about the way American women have babies.
Footage of women having babies punctuates THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN. Each experience is unique; all are equally beautiful and equally surprising. Giving birth is clearly the most physically challenging event these women have ever gone through, but it is also the most emotionally rewarding.
Along the way, Epstein conducts interviews with a number of obstetricians, experts and advocates about the history, culture and economics of childbirth. The film’s fundamental question: should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potential medical emergency?
The screening of this film has been planned to co-ordinate with the launch of the next phase of the campaign to save independent midwifery in the UK. Women need to know that this ‘gold standard’ of care should be one of their options in pregnancy and this film will give them the confidence to ask for it.
Midwifery care in this country would be revolutionised by taking it out of the acute medical sector and putting it back into the community. Some of it could then be delivered by self employed, independent midwives offering indivdualised, safe and appropriate care through a Social Enterprise Company, contracting into the NHS.
What is needed is a coalition of women and midwives to make it happen. Women must start demanding such care in sufficient numbers to push Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) executives to commission it. Midwives must be there ready to take up the challenge and offer it .
Over the years, various policy documents, reports and Health Ministers have highlighted the crucial role of midwives at the heart of the maternity services in this country. Time and again a new dawn is promised with women at the centre of care and yet the rhetoric is still not matched by the reality on the ground.
It is now time for the talking to stop and for policy to become action.
For more information go to www.saveindependentmidwifery.org or to www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com
Andrea Lee
e-mail:
contact@nottsindependentmidwives.co.uk
Homepage:
http://www.saveindependentmidwifery.org
Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
so important
15.05.2008 12:08
i'm glad this is being shown in nottingham, i for one am very interested in seeing it as i made the decision to give birth at home before i became pregnant.
how we treat the birth process impacts on the future development of our societies and i believe standing up to the medical establishment and prevailing social thought on birth has become a political act.
it's time we started to trust our bodies again and reconnect with the fact that we owe far more to biology than technology.
katy
I wasn't aware it was so difficult now
21.05.2008 10:44
As each child came along they were, later on, present at the birth to greet their new born siblings. Sixteen years ago one of the children rushed into the garden and picked all the daffodils minutes before her sister was born, and gave one to everyone in the room! The midwife commented that it was all such a quiet affair.
I have learnt that several of my neighbours were having home births and there was an active home birth group in Nottingham at the time. La Leche League and the NCT are still active I believe. I saw the midwife who was present at my last two - astonished that she should still recognise me after so much time has passed. She tells me that she still attends home births for women at their surgery. The Radical Midwives were always very supportive.
I do remember at the beginning that it felt like no-one else was having home births, but I learnt that many women were choosing to demedicalise welcoming children into the world. It would be interesting to try and find out how many home births have taken place over the years in Nottingham.
miriam
pregnant women seeking asylum denied ante natal care
21.05.2008 12:11
I am just reading the report of Medicins du Monde and their Project London and it is dreadful to read that women are being turned away for antenatal care if they have no money. Whilst we are talking about choice, they have no choice. They are going throughout their pregnancies without any access to antenatal care and will certainly be giving birth alone, and in fear with no security of housing or support.
m