Many bloggers have covered the decision from the American Medical Association (AMA) last week surrounding their proposal to author legislation that would ban home birth. The AMA has not given an indication as to what the penalty for giving birth at home would be, but it would be against the law - so one can only imagine.
On a lot of the blogs there has been debate over whether home birth is safe, whether midwives have enough training, whether the AMA decision is faulty or not. I think that the argument should not be over these issues, but rather over the issues of choice. I simply boils down to "what is the choice of the pregnant woman?" Not allowing women to give birth at home, something that has been done since the beginning of time, restricts their reproductive choice. This doesn't settle well with me.
I have a good friend who gave birth at her home. It was her choice, she had a low risk pregnancy, and was prepared to welcome her daughter into the world in a safe and comfortable way. Her daughter is 6 and beautiful and while I wasn't there for the birth, hearing stories of this amazing time can give me goosebumps.
I also have two sister who have given birth in hospitals, both with low risk pregnancies, both in comfortable settings, both welcoming perfect little infants into the world. The stories and memories of these births give me goosebumps as well.
My friend and my sisters were able to chose how and where to have their children. Lets work to make sure that women can continue to do so and not make having children illegal.
