How do we go from "The Business of Baby" to "The Politics of Childbirth and Parenting?" You know what I'm talking about: The Mommy Wars. Only now, it's become much more public through uneducated book reviews by advocates on both sides of the fence and debates finding their way to personal facebook pages and public groups. Unlike other subjects, there are not many books on the “behind-the-scenes” aspects of birth such as industry and human rights, although the field is growing. The top books in the topic can be counted on one hand and are relatively new within the past ten years. The newest book to the club was recently published and has already seen its fair share of both scrutiny and support. Jennifer Margulis’ new book, “The Business of Baby: What Doctors Don’t Tell You, What Corporations Try to Sell You and How to Put Your Pregnancy, Childbirth and Baby Before Their Bottom Line” is based on the industry of childbirth and parenting. Naturally, it makes people uncomfortable, sometimes even scared. Such was blatantly the case when fellow author Annie Murphy Paul reviewed the new book for The New York Times. While Paul acknowledges the book offers serious and valid questions on topics such as maternal mortality and increasing rates of interventions, she leaves a sour taste for the mere thought of paying more than a “used” pricing on this obviously dubious novel. Paul’s opinion and lack of knowledge on the subject is solidified in this remark: “With her focus on a largely bygone 1950s dynamic between women and doctors, in fact, Margulis has missed the real problem for today’s patients: too much information and too few reliable intermediaries who can sort fact from rumor.” The truth of the matter is that women’s healthcare in the United States has indeed reverted back to a time when the idea of woman owning her own body was unheard of, and when it was heard of, it was quickly scolded and pushed back under the rug. We are too often taught that her body is not her own; medical staff know our bodies better than us. It is curious that Paul, journalist and author in her own right of several books, seemingly lacks the ability to grasp the grave situation of our birth crisis. She currently blogs about brilliance and the “master skill” of learning, yet couldn’t find it in herself to do some needed research on her own regarding the claims in Margulis’ book before out casting them as impossibilities versus truths. Instead, she took these “horrifying” stories from “The Business of Baby” and assumed they must be falsehoods as they seemed “dated” and “romanticized” the idea of natural, non-medical, midwife attended births, which evidence states is healthier overall for both mom and baby in normal, healthy pregnancies and births. She also scoffed at the very idea of the topic of this book, an expose of the childbirth and parenting industry. “Margulis sniffs the same motivation behind prenatal care, ultrasounds, neonatal intensive care units, well-baby visits, even circumcisions: profit,” Paul wrote. “Hospitals have a lucrative sideline in selling foreskins to the biotechnical industry, Margulis reports, which uses them to make artificial skin, wound dressings and “high-end beauty products.”” There is no question that medical interventions available in the United States have, in fact, saved lifes. There also is no question that those same procedures have proved harmful to both mother and baby as seen in the recent Childbirth Connection study, Listening to Mothers III, and in many other previous studies. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists even stated recently that routine use of Pitocin or unnecessary inductions were dangerous and natural birth was preferable in most situations. It is clear that Paul has no idea what our current birthing climate is like in the United States, yet writes as if she is an authority on the topic. Paul did not achieve the very core ideas behind journalism: Objectiveness and truth. When you carry the burden of the purchasing decisions of others on your review, objectiveness and truth is crucial. Paul understands the importance of a positive pregnancy and the dangers of early trauma as is clearly represented in her 2011 book, “Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives” However, she is vastly underestimating the situation we currently find ourselves in here in the United States. Here are some short objective reviews for “The Business of Baby” found on Amazon.com: “Pregnancy and childbirth are wildly vulnerable times, and one is desperate to put one's faith in the doctor. Jennifer Margulis reveals why that trust is sometimes misplaced, and helps us to make wise choices when the stakes are high. This is a must-read book for parents and parents-to-be,and for the medical professionals who care for us.” Harriet Lerner, Ph.D. author of The Dance of Anger and Marriage Rules “This is a book I will recommend to all my OB patients. Parents need to know about the over medicalization of childbirth and that they have a choice. Thank you.” Patricia Harman CNM, author of The Midwife of Hope River and other books. “This book is a well rounded review of the issues surrounding childbirth. The more information you have the better off you are! Those that have bashed this book have an ax to grind. Just do a short google search and you will find the truth regarding their background. There is a huge difference between informed consent and informed compliance. Some health care practitioners really prefer patients that do not do their own research and take their word for everything. You should NOT do that with any practitioner, CNM, CPM or OB/GYN. Read this book and do your own research. That is the only way you can be truly informed. Those that wish to keep you ignorant, wish to keep you compliant. Think about it. We have some of the worst maternal/infant morbidity and mortality stats than other developed nations. There are reasons for this, you only have to do a little research. This is a good book to add to your collection or start the process!!” M. Anderson, NPR Florida “As both an experienced midwife and Yale trained MD - also a mom of 4 - I've seen the ins and outs of maternity care and pediatrics. I give Jennifer Margulis' book The Business of Baby the highest recommendation! Margulis illustrates, through a combination of sometimes heart-stopping stories, always well-researched facts, and articulate narrative what every pregnant woman and new parent needs to know - that the current medical industry, in spite of many well-meaning physicians, is a fear and profit-driven model that seems to have forgotten its core goals - the health of mom and baby. Her book is spot-on consistent with many of my experiences in obstetrics and pediatrics training and practice in some of the nation's top teaching hospitals. To be informed you must know the whole story. The Business of Baby will give you the inside scoop on the half that's rarely told. It will help you to be informed about what you need to know, ask, expect - and if necessary demand - if you want to improve your chances of having a healthy pregnancy, birth, and baby.” Aviva Romm, M.D. Related Posts Violence during Childbirth: Think it doesn't happen? Think again. Help change the birth crisis in your area with these tips Who's to blame when it comes to pregnancy-related deaths?
11 Comments
Jessica B.
5/14/2013 03:47:25 pm
Wow. Thank you for this thought out response. I was appalled at the NYT review and glad to see I wasn't the only one.
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5/14/2013 11:33:16 pm
Thank you Jessica! Surely you weren't the only one!
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5/14/2013 10:52:58 pm
Well done! Great idea adding the reviews. Mothers who inform themselves about the reality of birth will better be able to navigate it.
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5/14/2013 11:34:49 pm
Thank you Barbara. I loved that quote, also! This isn't about natural childbirth or taking every intervention possible. It's about making sure our mother's are informed so they can make their own, independent decisions.
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5/14/2013 11:49:05 pm
:) Thank YOU Momma Trauma...I would like to point out that in a TED talk and essay Annie Murphy Paul says "that through every encounter and circumstance of its mother, a fetus picks up significant clues" I wonder what clues she thinks a fetus picks up when it's mother gets on average 8min for a prenatal check up in the USA. What clues does a fetus get when it's mother is not allowed to go into labor on her own. What does a fetus think when its mother dissociates from her body by closing off her neurology with an epidural? What clues is the human being picking up when the dominate medical paradigm around birth sees pregnancy as pathology? I do not understand how Ms. Paul, who seems like a bright person... can not see the dysfunction and obvious economic motivation of obstetrics in the USA. I wonder how she sees the impersonal, industrialization of birth effecting the future of our species. I am just so surprised that such a seemingly bright person ...could be so blind.
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5/15/2013 05:07:45 pm
Great points Deb. As a baby is being born it can experience its mother as being there with it as a co operative loving force or one that abandons it. The feeling of being abandoned and 'having to do it all alone' is the feeling that is imprinted on babies when the epidural sets in. Having its birth induced takes away the baby's initiative. Mothers who have had induced births and spontaneous births report that those induced children are always the last to get into the car, always dragging behind as if trying to restore their own imputes to come in their own time and not when somebody else makes them The power of the imprint is awesome. If Ms Paul has had interventions either as a mother or as an infant ,her own birth trauma will unconsciously influence her response to this provocative book. Most people are living their lives avoiding these primal feeling because of the fear that is attached to them.
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5/26/2013 09:30:11 am
Hi Christy! Thanks for stopping by my blog! If that's the worst you can come up with, I didn't do too poorly. I don't see the problem with a CNM reviewing a book of this nature. I included the Amazon link of course in case anyone would like more objective reviews of this book.
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