Controversial birthing at home remains an argument of risks vs benefits

Birthing at home

Editor - Home birthing is growing, but despite this many doctors are opposed to it.  Some of the biggest arguments came up in 2008, during the AMA attempts to outlaw home birthing; but what is the stance today and the pros and cons about home birthing.

Proponents of giving birth at home maintain it saves money, avoids the negatives of using a hospital to give birth and is a way of going green, in other words helping save the environment.

Opponents of birthing at home, however, maintain the risks of it are too serious to take the chance that either the mother, baby or both might become ill or die.


On some of the web pages for homebirth and breast feeding, the notion of
going green becomes part of the argument.  There is the idea that natural childbirth at home is a natural event that doesn't need a lot of medical props and that women helping women, as in midwifery is the way to go.  Ricki Lake is one of the famous mothers who this year the value of birthing at home, causing the argument for and against it at a relatively high-pitched level in 2010.

Am J Obstet Gynecol 2010 produced a study showing that less medical intervention, characteristic of planned home birth, raises the potential for infant mortality. This substantiates physician conclusions that the risks of home birthing far outweigh the advantages.

The lead investigator, Joseph R. Wax, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maine Medical Center, stated, "Our findings raise the question of a link between the increased neonatal mortality among planned home births and the decreased obstetric intervention in this group."

But some Canadian researchers disagreed with the study because they believe the research methodology was not as exact in the meta-analysis and did not figure the level of care that can be provided at home.

The Midwives Alliance of North America has also protested the study on planned home births and believes those interested should be made aware there are flaws in the study.  Their contention, is that, "Trained midwives are qualified health professionals with the requisite expertise to provide mothers and newborns with outstanding care, using less intervention, resulting in maternal and infant outcomes as good as those in hospital settings under the care of obstetricians," 

Furthermore the Midwives Alliance says the public needs further enlightenment on childbirth options and how midwives are educated for what they do and that birthing at home can be safe as a result.

On the other hand, the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have maintained over the years there are deadly complications during delivery that midwives cannot handle unless they practice under
physician control.

Holistic mothers, however, protest women should have a right to decide how and where they give birth, according to the protestations of Holistic Mothers Network in protest the AMA pronouncements.

Birthing at home has its supporters and its controversies, as part of the "going green" arguments in favor of natural living vs the medical community's warnings of the risks.

The arguments have been so vociferous about birthing at home that petitions against making it illegal have been offered through various groups, while at the same time the American Medical Association has spoken out against the practice, offering the organization's concerns about mother-baby health and safety.

Recently the argument tones have lessened, with even the formal AMA online site showing little related to the issue.  It may be a stalemate in the controversy, but as women argue about birthing at home, some have found the process successful while others relate they wish they had seen a doctor instead.  And because of this many groups offer both sides of the argument about home birthing, as is available here.