Fantastic article. But it’s not that simple… is it? Yes birth can be awful. But it can be empowering, or reversely disempowering. And how do we know which way is the best way… there are many points of view to take on board: the individual woman, the baby, the population and society in general, the economy. how do we find the balance that suits mostly everyone? How can we? Are choices our own? We may think they are but they are more than likely not, they are more than likely swayed; by the evolution of medicalisation, by the evolution of empowerment being something we can find through birth, by the evolution of society and values. Everything! We don’t go into labour 9 (call it 10) months after becoming pregnant, we go into labour years and years after being born, born into a present that was shaped by history, further shaped by the present. How on earth can we find the best answer?

One answer that is clear as you have said is that it has nothing to do with morality, but it is made to have everything to do with morality. Failing if you give in to pain relief, failure if you choose to have a c-section, triumph if you labour physiologically, breastfeed and love it all, or hate it all but do it anyway.

I agree with another comment, so much talk about birth is not helping, as it is an extremely personal thing; one size does not fit all, however we don’t seem to find the same fixed debates regarding knee surgery. Perhaps because knee surgery is a means to fixing a problem and no judgement can be made of how we react to a pathological condition?

Choice is important, but in the face of the aforementioned and your article, whom among us really have choice that is not affected by all that has gone before?

Jane :)