The home birth rate is currently low, but inspired by Ricki Lake's new documentary and their own experiences of labour, campaigners are fighting to give women more choice.
Over the next few weeks, hundreds of people will crowd into halls across Britain to see a film that has been grabbing the headlines in the US. Called The Business of Being Born, it's a documentary by chatshow host Ricki Lake, about birth and specifically why pregnant women need to reclaim the right to give birth without unnecessary intervention.
In the US, birth rights are pitiful, with home birth banned in 10 states and the caesarean section rate standing at one in three. Only 8% of women are able to use midwives, who specialise in natural birth, and instead have to see obstetricians, whose metier is highly interventionist hospital delivery.
Guardian
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,2276237,00.html
