But the most frustrating part of both the television show and the alternative birthing culture is the way it reflects the two-tier medical system in this country. The women who will give birth on Born Into the Wild will have a team of medical professionals on-call at the production site, just in case something goes wrong. This is not meaningfully different than the way wealthier women choose an alternative birthing option in the shadow of top-hospitals where they can seek help if necessary. As for those sad statistics about the relatively high rates of maternal and infant mortality in the States, that is more a reflection of the subpar prenatal care received by working class Americans rather than the inherent ills of the medical system.
If you’ve seen the Mad Men episode in which Betty gives birth, you know what prompted women to start an alternative birthing moment back in the 1960s. In the episode, she is treated with no respect by her doctors, shaved, given an enema, knocked out for the delivery with madness-inducing drugs, and denied the company of her husband. So yes, it’s wonderful that women have achieved more control over what happens during delivery than the 60s.
But somewhere along the way, the movement to reform how we give birth became one that only wealthy women like Alba, Bundchen, and Kunis have access to — the very women who are statistically very unlikely to suffer from the complications they say they want to avoid.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member