Articles: The Birth Monopoly
“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.
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.
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.”
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
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.
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...
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.