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We Are Now a Licensed Continuing Education Provider
Birth Monopoly is excited to announce we are now a licensed Continuing Education Provider approved through the State of California Board of Registered Nursing, able to provide nursing contact hours within the U.S. That means we can help nurses, nurse midwives, and...
Exposing the Role of Labor and Delivery Nurses as Active Bystanders in Preventing or Perpetuating Obstetric Violence
Read the first paper ever published on obstetric violence in the U.S.’ #1 perinatal nursing journal.
Fake Hospital Birth Centers: Sutter Health Bait & Switch?
Hospital advertising–using language about “choice,” “autonomy,” and respect for birth plans–has evolved along with the changing demands of a more informed birthing population… but how reliable are those promises?
Alabama Birth Centers: Action Call
Today, July 13, 2023, is the much-anticipated hearing in Montgomery, Alabama, about proposed birth center regulations in a state where there are currently zero. As folks flood the hearing in person, we are hosting an action call via Zoom to support Alabama families'...
Birth in Rape Culture
Obstetric violence culture is a part of rape culture, where sexual violence, especially against women, is normalized.
Secondary Trauma and Birth Advocacy
Secondary trauma, trauma experienced by those who witness the abuse of others, spills over into the lives of everyone who sees it, who is complicit in it, who is conflicted about their role in it, who fights with everything in them against it, who perpetrates it.
A Woman Provider Normalizes Obstetric Violence on Social Media
Today I came across this video post by Sarah Wild, CRNA, who says her intention on Instagram is to “set an example for young women, moms & wives to be the best version of themselves and enjoy life.” Make sure your sound is on. These kinds of posts by...
How to File a Complaint for Mistreatment During Childbirth: *Scholarships Available*
I know I've said this before but... This community rocks. Last week as we were rolling out the "How to File a Complaint" manual, the group Life After 4th Degree Tears (private Facebook support group is here; follow them on Instagram here) contacted us to ask if they...
Why Don’t We Report Assault in Sex and Birth?
There are two traumas that happen when an assault occurs. The first is the event itself. The second is when people you trust don’t believe you about it.
5 Obstetric Violence Prevention Tips
5 Obstetric Violence Prevention Tips: 1. Don't assault someone while they're giving birth. 2. When you are attending someone giving birth and you don’t have permission to touch them, don’t touch them. 3. Use the Buddy System! If it is difficult for you to stop...
Ep. 38 – Filing a Hospital Complaint | Dr. Tracey Vogel
Dr. Vogel walks us through the bureaucratic structure of hospitals and how they receive and process grievances. We also discuss how people can effectively use their voice during birth in advocating for themselves, and the must-have details that you want to be captured if you are pulling together a formal written complaint.
Creating an Advocacy Plan for Hospital Birth: Free Webinar for Doulas
Clear and healthy expectations among the birth term are vital in the birth room. Join us Sept. 24 to discuss communicating with your clients about advocacy.
You Already Have What You Need
Women accept a lot of things because we are told we should: an unequal marriage or an abusive care provider looks normal to us.
Ep. 37 – “Advocacy is putting the birthing person first” | Sabia Wade
“There’s so many different ways that you can advocate for somebody, and even with the clients that I work with, I feel like advocacy and what they expect from advocacy looks different depending on who they are…”
Black Lives Matter.
I keep hearing people ask, what can I do?? The good news is, Black-run organizations and Black individuals are the experts in how to serve their communities and are already doing it.
A Midwife Changed My Life
May 5 is International Day of the Midwife. I remember my very first visit to the obstetrician. I was young and naïve and alone, and a nurse laughed at me because I didn’t know I was supposed to get dressed after the doctor left the room. I’d never been before, and...
COVID-19 and Doula Support: How to Respond to Changing Hospital Policies
Thoughts, information, and resources on how doulas and families can respond to shifting circumstances related to COVID-19, from the hospital to home, where many of us will be riding out this pandemic for a few weeks with our kids.
Leaving Against Medical Advice: Will Insurance Still Pay?
Will leaving against medical advice really leave you stuck with the bill for your visit? The answer is, “Probably not.”
Informed Consent & the Vaginal Exam: Free Webinar
Join us for a discussion on informed consent around a very common, but not risk-free, childbirth procedure: the vaginal exam.
Ep. 32 – “I’m not vulnerable any more.” | Katherine DiPaulo on Alleged Sexual Assault During Labor
**TW: Alleged Sexual Assault and Birth Assault** This is Katherine DiPaulo's story. She alleges she was sexually assaulted by an obstetrician at a Philadelphia-area hospital in 2005. She has not been able to hold him accountable. Ms. DiPaulo would like to connect with...
Rethinking Consent and Power in the Birth Room
How are we supposed to exercise “consent” in the birth room when we don’t recognize what consent is outside of it–and how power dynamics complicate it?
Spain 2019: Four Case Studies of Lawsuits for Obstetric Violence
Spanish lawyers have filed claims against the state related to the violations of their clients’ human rights in childbirth–with themes of abuse in birth common around the globe.
“One Year Ago Today”: An Origin Story
No one should have to choose between their baby and their provider.
“She’s Screaming Stop”: Forced Procedures Are Assault
“I interrupted and said ‘she said stop, take your hand out of her vagina right now, she said stop!’”
A Call to Advocates: Compassion and Loss in Out-of-Hospital Birth
If we support out-of-hospital birth, we should welcome these opportunities for growth, even when they are uncomfortable.
How An Abortion Amendment Impacts Wanted Pregnancies and Birth
Alabama’s abortion amendment broadly extends state and medical authority over every stage of pregnancy and birth, potentially including how and where women give birth.
When Your Lawyer is Your Doula
“That doesn’t make sense, for her to wait until after she’s abused to call me. If she’s really worried about it, I can meet her at the hospital as her doula, and make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Physician Trauma: A Doctor Answers, Why Do We Sometimes Do Terrible Things?
Medicine is a culture of trauma, where well-intended folks are immersed in abusive and traumatizing training and then expected to care for others.
“Women are the ONLY stakeholders who matter.” Cristen Pascucci’s Speech at 2018 Kentucky March for Moms
These words came out of a growing sense of frustration that American leadership is so quick to blame women for what are actually systemic problems in maternity care.
Birth Trauma & Maternal Mental Health | Video
As part of the free Mother May I Series, we are honored to present a webinar with Dr. Sayida Peprah, hosted by Cristen Pascucci and Birth Monopoly, on Birth Trauma & Maternal Mental Health. Dr. Sayida Peprah Dr. Sayida is both a licensed clinical psychologist and...
International Midwives and Obstetricians Groups Plead for Clemency in Case of Persecuted Hungarian Midwife/OB Agnes Gereb
This case of birth monopoly is about the long-term legal prosecution of Agnes Gereb, the trailblazing Hungarian obstetrician who chose to become a midwife almost 20 years into her career so that she could support women on their own terms.
Birth Plans Are Never A Joke: Trust, Betrayal, and Misogyny in Maternity Care
Birth plans are women being smarter than hospitals when hospitals fail to follow humane, science-based practices. That they have to be written down and pre-approved by a doctor is evidence of how little women’s decisions in birth matter.
Being Admitted to the Hospital or Signing Consent Forms is NOT “Implied Consent”
The concept of “implied consent” is sometimes mischaracterized by hospitals to justify violations of women’s dignity and rights in childbirth.
Meet Your New Hero: Senator Vivian Davis Figures Tells the Truth About Birth Choice in Alabama
Sen. Vivian Davis Figures drops a truth bomb in the Alabama legislature: “Who do you think birthed your ancestors. Uneducated slaves, ok? They were midwives.”
VIDEO: Hospitals Already Ban Vaginal Birth After Cesarean in Hospitals, Want to Ban it at Home
This short Birth Monopoly video looks at the reality families face in a state where, in many ways, hospitals have more control over birth than women do.
Home Birth Perspective: “Massively” Safer for Mothers
“It is not at all obvious that we should always be so focused on perinatal mortality.”
Letter to an Obstetrician: Forced Vaginal Procedures are Unethical, Traumatic
The performance of medical procedures without consent on a competent adult is unethical, unprofessional, and possibly illegal. More specifically, when a medical or midwifery professional administers a procedure without the consent of the pregnant or laboring...
ACOG to Docs: Women’s Right to Say “No” Comes First
ACOG discourages physicians “in the strongest possible terms” from the use of coercion and court-ordered threats or interventions against pregnant women.
“Birthrape & the Doula” with Amy Gilliland, Ph.D.
So what does a doula do when her client is being violated right in front of her?
Obstetrician Ethics: Awesome Guidelines from the National OBs’ Group
For pregnant people and those who work with them, these ethical concepts around their care are critical.
Kentucky Medical Associations Misinform to Protect Their Birth Monopoly
As Kentucky families desperately seek safer, more cost effective maternity care options, the Kentucky Hospital Association and Kentucky Medical Association cling to their monopoly on the market.
Truth & Not Truth on Kentucky’s SB85 to License Midwives
Inaccurate information from the Kentucky Medical Association about SB85 (a bill to license Certified Professional Midwives) vs. the truth from the coalition of Kentucky families
Mom Sues for Bait & Switch in Maternity Care
“As if birthing a baby isn’t hard enough, I gave birth while engaged in a physical struggle against the people I trusted to care for us.”
Nurse: Women are “Fabricating” Traumatic Birth Stories
Recently, a nurse wrote to Birth Monopoly about “seemingly fabricated traumatic birth stories.”
Nurses: Women Are *Not* “Fabricating” Birth Trauma
This first nurse’s comment gives us a pretty accurate peephole into an operating system that tells traumatized women, over and over: “Stop talking.”
Is the doula’s role changing?
What do you think about the role of doulas and their “place” in our system? Is it changing?
Does it need to change?
Three Things Your Doula Can’t Tell You
Some moms don’t realize that doulas can’t say every little thing that’s on their minds, and they have professional standards that may preclude them from talking to you like you are a best friend.
Iowa Birth Monopoly: Hospitals Block Birth Center
A chokehold on the market by hospital-based facilities means that the majority of the population has access to only one type of care: a high-intervention, institutional model.
Kentucky Birth Monopoly: Begging for Birth Centers
“While there may be some overlap in the services provided, … it is a stretch to claim that traditional hospitals providing only hospital-based birthing environments offer services similar to an [alternative birth center].” – Judge J. Phillip Shepherd
Why Are We Asking Doctors if Women Should Have Midwives?
What the general public and the media don’t understand, when they are asking doctors about midwives, is that doctors are the reason American women don’t have midwives.
Doctor, You’re Not Listening
So much trauma could be prevented by simply listening to and respecting the women giving birth.
Why I unapologetically charge for my work and why you should, too
I’m not willing to be an economic victim any longer. I’m in it for the long haul, and I want you to be, too.
Arizona Birth Monopoly: Mandatory Surgery or Forced Vaginal Exams
While some states are working hard to make maternity care safer, less expensive, and more humane, Arizona is going backwards, fast, led by its state Department of Health Services. New interpretation of existing state regulations that go into effect on July 1 impose...
You’re Not Allowed to Not Allow Me
The legal authority in childbirth lies with the woman giving birth, not the providers of care. Our words should reflect that.
New York Times’ “Refusals”: The Rest of the Story
It was great to see this story in such a prestigious paper, but disappointing that the magnitude of the problem wasn’t mentioned.