Feminist Perspectives on Natural Childbirth

Because of the many dangers associated with childbirth when unnecessary interventions are used, many women are opting for natural birth instead of conventional, highly medicated measures. This tends to strike a nerve with feminists on both ends of the childbirth-philosophy spectrum: there are feminists who reject natural and support a woman's right to choose medicated childbirth, and there are feminists who believe that a rejection of medicalized childbirth is a key component in advancing feminist values.

Our patriarchal culture tends to medicalize everything about the female body's natural processes. We often see "treatments" for menopause, lists of "symptoms" of pregnancy, and hormonal injections that battle menstruation. Although these processes are normal actions of the female body-- not diseases or even clinical conditions-- we become accustomed to the idea that our bodies are defective and that normal processes require medical intervention.

While we never see advertisements or medical programs aimed toward healthy male bodily functions ("Do you need treatment for your ejaculation?") we have now become accustomed to the idea that female body functions, including childbirth, are processes that necessarily require the assistance of medical personnel. Because obstetric errors in the past several centuries caused the deaths of thousands of women, we now operate under the false assumption that birth is, and always has been, a dangerous process.

Some branches of feminism wholly support natural childbirth by riling against the belief that childbirth is frightening and dangerous. Many midwives, doulas, and holistic obstetricians enter their professions from the position of feminism. A philosophy that trusts in the power of female body has largely guided the modern natural birth movement; many natural-birth activists view childbirth as an empowering and liberating process of rejecting male-influenced medical intervention. As a result of this movement, knowledge of painless and even orgasmic childbirth have become more commonly known.

Still, some feminists categorically reject natural childbirth because they view it as being as oppressive as a standard medicalized birth. Medicated childbirth, including interventions like epidurals, elective c-sections, and narcotic injections, can give women the feeling of being in control of the process, even interventions are not necessary or medically indicated. Many feminist mothers believe that they should have a right to choose an elective c-section despite the known risks of doing so.

Feminism aims to give women more control over their bodies and lives, and advocates of electively medicated childbirth feel that they are entitled to choices regarding the birth process. Regardless of whether or not medical interventions are used, birth can be a frightening and traumatic process when women do not feel educated and in-control. The right to choose (or not choose) interventions is an important issue for many feminists mothers and mothers-to-be.

Our feminist foremothers fought long and hard for the right to birth safely in a clinical environment, with comfort-based measures taken even when they were not medically necesssary. After thousands of years of fighting what some women perceive as an eternal battle against the pain of labor, mothers were able to give birth even when completely unconscious by choice. After a swing in that direction, third-wave feminists then fought for a right to give birth without these interventions.

Whatever childbirth route is chosen, the most important aspect is that the mother makes her choice voluntarily and from a position of knowledge. Childbirth can be either the most traumatic or most empowering life event that a woman can experience, and feminism plays a key role in preserving a woman's right to education, understanding, and choice regarding childbirth procedures.