Monday, December 19, 2011

Natural and Unnatural Childbirth

The tone of every conversation in society is acceptance. We want to accept people who make different choices than we would personally, and, on the whole, that is a wonderful thing. It's good when discussing religion, good when discussing gender roles and sexual orientation, and good when discussing all manner of small personal choices, like how to dress, what job to do, and what to do in your free time. But it's not so good when we discuss birth.

You see, I want to dispel the myth that supporting natural childbirth is about suffering. My support of natural childbirth is not because the women who experienced it suffered for their children, and, in fact, I really wish all women could experience completely painless labor. Most natural childbirth advocates do. The want for natural childbirth stems from the desire for the health and comfort of the baby. Many unnatural birth supporters seem to believe that birth is some sort of contest for women, and I've heard it compared to something with a scoring system with points awarded based on how natural it was or how bad it hurt.  This is not true.

I support natural birth because I believe that a baby has the right to come into this world in the most comfortable, healthy way possible. I don't support it because I think women should suffer for their children.

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