Medical Journal Argues Against Home Births

In a normal, low-risk pregnancy with a competent birth attendant, the only thing homebirths are dangerous to is a doctor's wallet.

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So let me get this straight... it's a woman's freedom of choice to abort a baby but it's too dangerous to give birth at home? Oh I see! It's terrible to endanger the unborn child by having it born in it's own home, because abortion isn't dangerous to the baby at all... Right?

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Easy people. It's just saying that statistically it is more dangerous to give birth at home because of risk of infection and delayed response of medical help if there are problems with the birth. Stop acting like your rights are being taken away and look at it objectively for once. No one's forcing you to do either anyways.

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I agree with Grace wholeheartedly. If a woman's right to choose death for her baby is protected, a woman's right to choose a home birth should most certainly be protected. Sure, no one's forcing anyone to do either, but "they" shouldn't simply take away the option.

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Anti or pro abortion I don't think, if asked, the children treated by those medical professionals in those medical clinics received life saving health care do you? These people only care whether the medical statistics add up in their favor, if they were to add ALL the child fatalities in medical facilities versus home births which would be greater? So if pro-choice activists are really for women's choice they should be up in arms and starting protests about this, right?

I mean if it truly is about a woman's right to choose...

However I do think all babies should have adequate health care. I also believe several babies who are born with complications or die during birth would do so regardless of where they are born. Stress and comfort are factors that greatly effect childbirth... if a woman feels more at ease with a trained midwife in her own home then that is what she should do... Some women plan hospital births and just don't make it in time which side of the statistic do you think they fell in?

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I think people need to look beyond this article at the statistics because the stats I've seen show that home birth is safer than hospital births. The United States has one of the highest infant mortality rates among modern countries, but we also have the lowest percentage of home births. See a connection? Childbirth is a natural function of a woman's body, yet our country treats it like an illness. OBGYN's are trained to perform surgery and have little involvement in the labor. They come in at the last minute to catch the baby unless there's an emergency. Midwives are trained to help the woman through the entire labor and delivery process. I wonder how many fewer problems there would be during labor and delivery if women were given more support and guidance that a midwife or doula offers?

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"Open up! Baby police! Put your hands above your womb! Breathe! Breathe!" (First sentence of this article...)

Doesn't sound like they're just suggesting a hospital is a safer alternative... it sounds like enforced laws and socialism. What's next? What we eat, oops they're already doing that... what doctor we use, oops they're doing that too.... hmmm, gee I'm so glad they're just suggestions. Guess we shouldn't comment or question anything....

I didn't originally bring this up but commented on abortion being more dangerous for the child than a home birth, but please where are we to draw a line and still call ourselves a free country? Are we free if they're telling us everything we can and cannot do?

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We have two children and my wife went for delivery at the SSRN hospital and it was not normal delivery but CS . Nowadays I think women lack physical exercises and (not all) the majority of the working women are doomed to go for a CS...delivery at home perhaps should be discarded.

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Misleading headline. What they are really saying is that home birth is less safe mainly due to laws unfavorable to home birth. Notice how the quote specifies that home birth is an option for uncomplicated pregnancies, with a qualified attendant, when there's a backup hospital nearby AND AVAILABLE for emergencies.

In other words, what makes home birth marginally less safe is that laws don't require midwives to go through the accreditation process (many do anyway, but since in many places midwives are "illegal" even with the accreditation not all do or are able to), and laws don't govern the integration of midwifery and hospitals. In many places, if you choose a midwife, you are writing yourself out of hospital care. If your birth is one of the rare cases that becomes an emergency, you may have trouble getting transport to a hospital, the doctors may be hostile, they won't have your records on hand, and so forth. It's this gap in treatment that is the worrisome bit, not the part about giving birth at home.

To recap: as the quoted excerpt itself shows, the "danger" of home births is not intrinsic to home birth, but is instead endemic in the medical system that refuses to legalize and support this form of medicine.

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In my state, it is illegal for licensed midwives to attend high-risk home births (breech, twins, GD, VBAC, etc.). That being said, my midwife had experience with surprise breech and surprise twins with 0 complications. When an experienced midwife is attending a low-risk homebirth, the possibilities of complications go way down. I don't know where these statistics come from, but several other controlled studies show this. Added to this, the chances of unnecessary interventions go down as well. When I chose a home birth with a midwife, I knew that if I needed a c-section it would be because it was necessary, not because my doctor was wanted to go home or because he was afraid of being sued. When we transferred to the hospital at 32 hours of labor for "failure to progress", broken waters, etc. it was sad and difficult, but my midwife wanted to take no chances. After augmentation with pitocin, my beautiful baby girl was born vaginally and perfectly healthy into a strange doctor's hands, but with support of a wonderful midwife who cared enough for me to transfer before things were a "train wreck" and not more for her own reputaion, pocketbook (guess who insurance paid?), or even what my dream birth was. I will try again for a home birth with baby #2 (as long as everything is low risk).

I know this is a personal and emotive story, but I think it shows the right relationship between home and hospital for people who choose to birth at home. There is a beautiful symbiosis like this in many European countries, and I'd love to see a better relationship here in the US. Scare tactics are silly. Women who take responsibility for their own birth know what they are doing and where the risks are.

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The Lancet editorial was a huge disappointment. It is a shame that they did not actually investigate the Wax meta-analysis thoroughly enough to recognized the poor methodology and how the data did not support the authors' conclusion.

I am shocked more attention has not been given to this disturbing assault on women. I wrote about it, and I hope many others will feel inspired to as well.

By the way, the Wax paper does not distinguish outcomes between "certified" or licensed midwives -- that is Lancet propaganda.

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Utter crap. I'm sorry, but HOW did we survive the eons before these "experts" were around to tell us how to have our babies?

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I am very curious as to the statistics on infant mortality in a hospital setting. Also what they fail to mention is the extremely high cesarean rate at hospitals compared to home births. There is nothing risky about giving birth at home in a low risk pregnancy. Usually the midwife knows if there is something wrong when there is still time to get you to a hospital. Amish women have always given birth at home along with many other women in different countries. Birth is something natural that women have been doing since the beginning of mankind and more women need to trust their bodies.

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Also, many women are found to have better labors when at home and in a comfortable situation rather than at a hospital where people are in and out of the room and there may be someone there that does not add positive energy to the situation. Many women have actually regressed in cervical dilation due to an overly pushy doctor or nurse who didn't make the women feel comfortable. Even the position that the doctors make you lay in to push the baby out does not benefit the mother or the labor at all. It goes against gravity. Being confined to a bed most of the time is not natural either. Read, Ina May's guide to childbirth. Great book! If I can help it, I will never birth in a hospital. It will always be either at a birth center or in the comforts of my own home.

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"The medical journal reports home births are increasing in popularity as mothers become more scared of contagious diseases."

No, we're scared of iatrogenic complications.

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