I created a petition on Change.org with the (probably vain) hope of publicly embarrassing the Midwives Alliance of North America into releasing the death rate of the 27,000 homebirths in their database.

You can find the petition at Release the Homebirth Death Rate!



To:

Midwives Alliance of North America

Release the Homebirth Death Rate! American women need accurate information to make an informed decision about homebirth. Until MANA releases the number of babies who died at the more than 27,000 homebirths attended by their members, women will lack access to critical information that they deserve.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

Several of the people who have already signed have done so in memory of babies they have loved and lost, unwittingly trusting “midwives” who never told them the real risks, the actual death rate, of homebirth.

I read yet another story of a preventable neonatal death yesterday on message board. The mother introduced herself back in March:

I’m a FTM and doing home birth as well. We made that decision when we saw the documentary “The Business of Being Born.” My midwife said that these “complications” can be foreseen way in advance and can be fixed as long as the signs are noticed. With hospitals, they don’t keep an eye on you so they miss those signs and then rush you to get a c-section…

Last Thursday, baby Natalie died during labor, fatally compromised most likely during the pushing phase:

After 6 hours of pushing, not only was I in pain and tired but she hadn’t moved and there was meconium running down my leg which indicated that she was in stress. My midwife was still checking her heartbeat and it was a little slow. They had me lay on one side and have oxygen and that seemed to help her heart but it wasn’t helping anything else. At that time I told my midwife I was done. I couldn’t do it anymore. She tried to lift my spirits and say I COULD do this but I told her I did not want the encouragement. I was tired and I didn’t want to be in pain anymore. I wanted the hospital.

Now Natalie’s mother is left bereft and bewildered:

… By the time they opened me up, she didn’t have a heartbeat. She was covered in meconium and the umbilical cord was wrapped several times around her neck and body. They tried resusitating her for 15 minutes but she never made it. I was in disbelief. Wait, what? But this wasn’t supposed to happen. None of this was. I was supposed to have my little baby girl at home, she was supposed to be in our arms, we were supposed to be happy. That was the plan. How could she die?

Yet another mother is left in agony for no better reason that because homebirth midwives want to preserve their ability to earn money from their birth junkie hobby, dead babies be damned.

… I want a do-over. Why can’t I have a do-over? I’ll do it right this time, I promise. I’m sorry, baby girl. I’m sorry you were in stress. I’m sorry I didn’t know. I’m sorry you didn’t have a chance to be held and to be loved by us. All we wanted was you.

Please sign the petition to prevent tragedies like these. I have arranged it so that Melissa Cheyney, Director of Research at MANA will get an email every time someone signs.

Sign in memory of baby Natalie … and Aquila, and Marybeth, and Shahzad, and Wren and the many other babies who died because their mothers never gave informed consent to homebirth, because they never knew the death rate. Even the Midwives Alliance of North America knows that homebirth kills babies who didn’t have to die. They’ve done everything in their power to make sure that American women don’t find out the truth. Let’s end the needless, senseless deaths NOW!