Women's eNews (https://womensenews.org/tag/childbirth/)
Most of the women who are being subjected to this degrading and dangerous practice have already undergone enough trauma. We need the help of Congress and the Department of Justice to stop this “birthing barbarism” in the 28 states that still allow shackling at some or all points from the second trimester through postpartum recovery.
One mobile phone app delivers time-sensitive text messages or voicemails to pregnant women and new mothers; the other is for nurses. Together they are doing wonders for maternal and pregnancy health care and raising community awareness at the same time.
Miriam Zoila Pérez charts and interprets the stunning rise in the popularity of trained childbirth attendants in this excerpt from her book “The Radical Doula Guide.” As childbirth became medicalized, family members could no longer carry the load themselves.
After the dangerous delivery of her third child, Marie Colonna decided it was time to protect her own longevity. Excerpted from “The Kings’ Mistresses: The Liberated Lives of Marie Mancini, Princess Colonna, and Her Sister Hortense, Duchess Mazarin.”
Cameroon has pledged to reduce its maternal deaths by 75 percent from 1990 levels, but compared with that year, more women are now dying. Last year the government joined a regional campaign to accelerate progress on this key development goal.
Finding out why so many more African American women die in childbirth starts with keeping statistics and spotting problems in hospitals. Right now there is no federal requirement to report maternal deaths so remedies are hard to prescribe.
More women of child-rearing age are uninsured and dependent on medical assistance. That is tightening the financial noose around hospital maternity care and causing longer waits and travel time for pregnant women.
Wendy Graham, a champion of Millennium Development Goal No. 5, says the starkest measure of the gap between rich and poor countries is that of women dying in childbirth. And the solution is as simple as cleaner birthing practices.
My mother survived childbirth dangers that would have killed her 100 years ago, giving me a keen appreciation for modern medicine. But an alarming number of U.S. women are still dying in an apparently anachronistic way. We need a U.S. action plan.