politics and birth
Wow, this is a loaded question. I will answer on a personal basis, which may not be representative of all the homebirth midwives and the emahi midwives organization. Once there was just one midwife doing a few homebirths a year, and it was quiet and hidden. As the years progressed, other midwives joined and more and more women wanted homebirths, and the numbers grew. Then came the demand for good relations with the hospitals in the cases of transfers and the hope of better cooperation, and in the end the dream of homebirthers getting the maanak lida without the hospital stay and eventually getting the government to pay for homebirths like in England, Holland, Canada, etc. Organizations were formed, committees met, and doctors and hospitals began to feel that homebirth was growing in great numbers, and they felt threatened by the demons of money and power and ego. So it was bad politics to make homebirth illegal and very unpopular to stop it but they wanted to control it (dominate and control women and midwives) in the false name of making homebirth safer. Of course, homebirth statistics in Israel are far superior to hospital birth outcomes for low-risk women. They also tried to eliminate homebirth by competing with it on a marketing strategy to bring the home into the hospital, giving the "illusion" that hospitals are friendly and free like the home but safer. Some women fall for this trap, but the ones who really understand the philosophy of homebirth don't buy it. Anyway, to make a long story simple: We are in a dangerous bind right now, with midwives under a lot of scrutiny and pressure. Our insurance was taken away, and now we are told that if we will comply with the new protocols that the new all doctor committee made up then we will get it back. Of course, this committee would not meet on an equal representation basis with the homebirth midwives, and these doctors have no understanding of homebirth or the needs of the couples and the midwives. They are trying to bring the hospital into the home, which for me is just not palatable. I have done enough suffering and compromising and sacrificing during the years working in hospitals, and have seen and experienced too much abuse, to go this route again. If I can't practice true midwifery and have the mother's and babies as first priorities, then I would rather not practice at all. If the new protocols make me transfer unnecessarily one-third of my women, then this can't be good for anybody. If any hospital here can beat my statistics of hundreds of births, then I might be more acceptable,but I wasn't born yesterday and this is my life's mission and if there is one thing I know something about, it's birth.
