Controversial Pregnancy & Birth Documentary

[BellyBelly]

Here’s a new, controversial documentary, Pregnant in America. It tells it like it is, as everyone has been jumping up and down about for a long time and it's happening here in Australia too.

There is a promo on the site (below) to give you a taste.

http://www.pregnantinamerica.com/index.php

Pregnant In America

Who's Getting Rich?: Who's Paying the Price?

Pregnant in America examines the betrayal of humanity's greatest gift--birth--by the greed of U.S. corporations. Hospitals, insurance companies and other members of the healthcare industry have all pushed aside the best care of our infants and mothers to play the power game of raking in huge profits.

His wife pregnant, first-time filmmaker Steve Buonaugurio sets out to create a film that will expose the underside of the U.S. childbirth industry and help end its neglectful exploitation of pregnancy and birth.

Pregnant in America is the controversial story of life's greatest miracle in the hands of a nation's most powerful interests.

[Yael]

I thought it was very interesting, but really disagreed with this comment:

"childbirth itself is perfectly normal, complications are caused by intervention"

I agree that childbirth is a normal event, but i think part of the thing that turns people against the left-wing approach is these comments, that everything is 100% fine without ANY medical assistance, and you are causing problems with intervention

If this was true, look back to times when there was no intervention for women, and look at the mother and child mortality rate then as compared to now.

I['m not saying people don't die now, that medicine is 100% the answer, or even that medicine doesn't (shock horror) cause some of these deaths...

But to say unequivically that "INTERVENTION CAUSES PROBLEMS" i believe is untrue and misleading

intervention can cause problems, intervention can help problems...it depends on the case, the dr, the hospital and various other circumstances... blanket statements don't help.

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water... Western medicine saves lives each year.. its your choice whether to use those servces, but to say it is the cause of problems is not being fair and objective to the issue

I have no doubt there are many people that make money out of this, because they provide a service. But i know everytime i have ANY MEDICAL PROCDURE IN ANY AREA OF MEDICINE, people are making money from it. And if the stats were reversed, and 98% had babies at home as opposed to at hospitals, you don't think private midwives wouldn't make money from it? Don't they deserve payment for their time and services also?

From the trailer i like the Obgyn answer "deliever at home, but within 15 mins of a hospital"... that to me is saying it is natural and you can do it, but don't forget that things can/do go wrong, and western medicine can save you and your babies life.

Just my opinion...

when can we see the full version in Australia?

[Lulu]

Can't WAIT to see this one! Although I won't enjoy it I bet.

Yael - yep, see your point - but I feel that it's more about what is behind the intervention. The medical industry (and I don't mean the drs, nurses and midwives etc) is SICKMAKING and money is behind it all. Lives are being ruined. GGRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

[Yael]

Lulu, I agree

I just feel blanket statements can really turn people off from seeing the message about the truth behind the industry.. the have an important message but if people percieve it as another rant for natural birth and being completely against medicine then some people will switch off before 1 minute is over

[BellyBelly]

I wonder how many said the same about Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth'? I mean, who would want to hear about hippy environmental stuff? I would have never seen it if it wasn't the smash hit it was...

[Lulu]

I wouldn;t have heard about this one if it wasn't for BB Kel. Thanks - although I can feel myself getting angry already! Well all the more to spur us on.......

[lindie]

All I can say is its made by a DAD TO BE, wonder how he would feel if he lost his little one during childbirth? Or how he would comfort his poor wife.

Oh and on the funny side, My OBGN now charges $1600 for planning and management fee (just to be there and do a c/s) my DH would now like to be and obstertician LOL.

Lindie

[BellyBelly]

People just dont want to believe that when they have so much trust and faith in the medical system (because they no longer have faith in their own bodies as a result of this system). Here are some stats from Ina May Gaskin's birth centre, who is extremely respected in the birth world - and she is not the only one doing it, I also have stats for a GP in Europe doing the exact same thing but only with something like 20,000 births in his career. Ina May Gaskin is in the documentary.

Stats for 'The Farm'
1970-2005 - 2286 births

births completed 95.1%
transports 4.9%
emergency transports 1.3%
primigravidas 44.7%
multigravidas 55.3%
grand multiparas 8.4%
caesareans 1.5% - transverse etc. First 400 births 0.5%
forceps 0.4%
vacuum 0.1%
inductions 5.4% e.g. with methods like castor oil
maternal mortality 0
neonatal mortality 0.36%

There were no more stats but I found this on her site which I thought I would add, which is only based on stats up to the year 2000:

Cases with no preeclampsia - 99.61%
Cases of preeclampsia - .39%
Cases with no hemorrhage - 98.2%
Cases of postpartum hemorrhage - 1.8%

How else can we explain whats going on in hospitals? People just dont want to believe that corporate greed and ignorance exists in hospitals and that money makes the world go around. Midwives are leaving the profession in droves, they are struggling to cope in an environment which goes against everything they know and believe in. Without those midwives we are left with a system with care from doctors and midwives who only know the system, and you get 'in the system' births.

This is not judging where people choose to give birth, but actually defending those who are giving birth in hospital, saying there should be much better outcomes for women birthing there. Who wants an unnecessary vacuum, forceps or caesarean? They aren't attacking women's choices but standing up for all women saying birth should be a better experience. But there is so much hostility towards it when they are actually on every woman's team. And if they created a doco saying, yeah birth is okay, it could be better - who's gonna sit up and watch it? They need to be extreme because the situation is extreme.

[Inanna]

It is a true statement that complications are caused by intervention. That is a fact.
NOT ALL COMPLICATIONS ARE CAUSED BY INTERVENTION - is definitely true also. So, I can see where you are concerned however, why not the concern about the inaccuracy of statements such as "ITS NOT SAFE TO BIRTH AT HOME"????

Birth is a natural and normal event for most women. Women who are having a premature birth would not be supported by a professional at home. No one with any credibility would want to have a bar of that. It most definitely would not be safe to have a premature baby at home.

It's so true that many many obs enter into their profession for the wonder of childbirth. However, very often the wonder gets lost. The VERY best skill a childbirth professional can have is the skill of watching and waiting all the while being mindful of the sacredness of birth. This is what is very often missing. I was at a recent birth where the obs came into the room. Put his arm on the back of the labouring mother and proceeded to sit in the corner of the room and watch. He watched for 3 hours while playing I spy with a 2 year old until that baby was born. This is a skill that is missing in MANY obs. Many of them wouldn't DREAM of being this basic.
Now, this isn't because they are bastards. This is because they are working in a system that doesn't support the needs and the spirituality of birth. They have appointments to maintain, sleep that they are deprived of, insurance that is crippling so God help them if they make a mistake or a seen to not be doing anything...

An obs sitting ona stool in the corner of a room would be an outrage to many women. They are paying this guy so he should be DOING something. Birth is about the mother birthing. It is NOT about the obs. Yep, if there is a medical indication bring on the medicine. However MOST births DO NOT REQUIRE A MEDICAL INTERVENTION - MOST.

So, I for one look forward to this doco!!!

[Yael]

I also disagree with the statement "it is not safe to birth at home"

All blanket statements don't help the situation

In certain cirumstances, i believe it is just as safe to birth at home, perhaps even safer... But part of the reason why the 'good' stats that Kelly quoted, is if they pick up certain complications early (like pre-eclampsia, high risk b/c of previous uterine rupture, placenta previa etc) - is the fact that they won't let you birth in a birth centre - and probably for good reason, because they realise that these women might/do need higher levels of care

It kind of skews the stats a bit... if you had everybody birthing at home with no access to medical help, they would have a higher rate or maternal and neonatal death.

I just believe there is a place for everything - low intervention births, and the realisation that sometimes things do go wrong, and help can be needed. I refuse to believe that EVERY dr thinks, 'great something has gone wrong, how much money can i make by giving her x,y or z?'

And even if they were making money out of me, if i needed it i would rather pay

The fact of life is that by living in a non communist country, every service you access, somebody will benefit financially from that..

Flowerchild when you say

It is a true statement that complications are caused by intervention. That is a fact

, wouldn't a better statement be "some complications are caused by intervention".

All these doco makers had to add in is the word "some", and they would have made that part a lot more neutral instead of quite biased.

Even in extreme circumstances, making your doco one sided won't really help to educate people... if you want to have true journalistic integrity, you have to make a balanced presentation of the facts.

But i still want to see it... I just hate anything in newspapers, books etc that is biased... I can still remember my Yr 12 English CAT where we analyzed newspaper articles, i still find myself doing it all the time

[Lulu]

Who has seen it yet?? How do we know it's one sided? Doco's are usually factually correct or it comes back on the maker.
We've seen the money behind the prescriptions, the "free conferences" backed by HUGE pharmaceutical companies, the gifts, the incentives for Dr's to back a certain brand. Thalidomide, Celebrex and the Cervical Cancer vaccine etc etc etc - so why jump up and down and dismiss it before it's been seen????????????????

[Yael]

I didn't say that is was going to be like that,

But from the trailer they are promoting, it can turn people away from even going to see the full thing

I would go anyway, its something that i am interested in, but i can see why some people wouldn't after watching their trailer

I don't believe most docos are balanced, i just think they do it in very discrete ways that people don't pick up on... same with newspaper articles...

But at least you know their biases before going in there.

Any info on when i will be out here?

[Lulu]

Yeah - you gotta have a hook though!! lol

[lady*of*thelake]

Can't wait to see it. I think it's going to be fantastic. And no-one should be jumping to any conclusions about the content until they have seen it

[mrmoo]

Thanks for the email Kelly. I wonder if this will eventually be shown on Aussie tv like the "Super Size Me" was? That doco caused a stir, likewise the Michael Moore doco (something colombine - sorry can't remember the name and it caused a fued between family which is still ongoing!). It would be nice if all jorno stories were all completely balanced but saddly they're not and may never be - due to the basic *want* of making money. Take the 60 minutes story on Attachment Parenting. That story was aimed at the very, very, very extremes of Attachment Parenting and the majority of AP parents do not behave this way. Unfortunately the story only served to widen the gap between those that do and those that don't. Will this new doco be the same? Will it really highlight some of the unnecessary medical interventions that goes on with having a baby? Will it highlight the lack of skills the medical profession now has in some aspects of child birth such has breech birth? Will it highlight the old *too posh to push* which is still quite common these days. Will it highlight the scaremongering tactics used by the profession such as "you have to have an assisted labour if you are attempting a natural birth after a caesarean therefore you cannot do anything that comes naturally ie walk around, pace but instead you are to be strapped to a machine at all times to monitor in case your uterus pops open!" I agree this doco maybe more one-sided but it will be doing one thing... it will be alerting the general public to what actually goes on in childbirth whether they want to know what goes on or not.

On a completely separate issue... I've been wanting to acquire some vbac birth stories for a book that I'm planning on producing and have found opposition, why would that be? I would have thought that as there isn't enough stories out there in actual book form that could be either bought or borrowed from the library with Aussie women having vbac births I thought that this project would have been supported, especially for those who don't have access to the internet. Can anyone explain why this project of mine is not being supported and how do I change it so it will be?

Hey if someone can do a doco on Birthing in America, junk food making people fat as in Super Size Me, and the shooting in schools doco by Michael Moore, then surely my little project can get some support? Any ideas would be great!

[BellyBelly]

There aren't a huge amount of VBAC's happening at the moment, I have supported some though, but they are in the minority because of issues this documentary will address! But feel free to post in here, in a new thread if people would like to share.

[mrmoo]

Thankyou Kelly, you're a gem.

[Inanna]

It is true that the stats are great at "The Farm" because they have such excellent care and complications are picked up.
The point being that for healthy women that are educated about the birthing process, have excellent support and have low risks birth is very often an uncomplicated empowering event.

So, why then do we have a system that is geared toward medical intervention? We have it because women in general have lost Trust in their bodies and the process of birth. We have it because women now beilieve they are not getting good care unless they have an obstetrician. The art of mid wifery has been downgraded in the minds of some to handmaidenship rather than the art that it is. Many many women don't believe they are getting optimal care unless they have an obstetrician. However the stats are very clear. If you have a birth in a private hospital (always under the care of an obstetrician) you have a 30% chance of a c/section in Australia (and higher then this at some hospitals) and a high chance of intervention beginning from ctg monitoring which in itself means a woman labours in bed and cannot adopt postures that are natural for women to use in labour/birth...
We are led to believe that if we go past that magical due date we must be induced... So much fear surrounds this - again we need to listen to women,listen to OUR bodies, educate ourselves. The way the birthing system is now we listen to the doctor - the doctor who we see for a 10 minute visit - we give over our power and our womanly instincts...

Absolutely some women do require intervention for their wellbeing and the well being of their babies. Absolutely no argument. The problem is that MANY women don't and the system is geared to see birth as a disorder and not as a normal and sacred family event.

I do think that a doco needs to pull punches and if it puts some peoples noses out of joint so be it. I think it is clear that this documentary is trying to get a message across. JOurnalisim is just that. A journalist will report from their own bias. I
f I was a journo I would be doing the same thing I must admit!!!

We all see it differently and yes, they could add "some" in there but is that going to change it so much that more people would watch it? I don't think so personally...

ETA: Mr Moo if you would like to contact me I could perhaps refer some women who have had vbacs on to you if you can give me some details.