Birthing Models on the Human Rights Frontier

Betty-Anne Daviss has served as a midwife for 45 years and is internationally renowned as a breech expert and researcher on home birth and ethnography in childbirth. She is Adjunct Professor at the Pauline Jewett Institute of Gender and Women’s Studies, Carleton University, Canada, and has privileges at l’Hôpital Montfort and the Ottawa Hospital. Robbie Davis-Floyd is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Rice University, Houston, Texas. She is a well-known international speaker and researcher on transformational models in childbirth, midwifery, and obstetrics.

“This publication is a fine example of ‘speaking up, speaking out’ … The stories told here, expertly analysed by the author with searing honesty, compassion and awareness demonstrate[es] that a model of normal physiologic reproduction without medical or technical intervention can work!”- Lynn R. S. Genevieve, Midwifery Matters, Dec 2022 "This groundbreaking book should spark a revolution in western maternity care systems, if only the powers-that-be would take heed. Because what is almost miraculous is that the examples presented from across the world verifiably achieve superior results at much lower cost and with much higher family satisfaction than those of our own country. They do this by actively centering soft touch into their care systems. These cultures pay honor to the human rights of privacy, security, and freedom, intimacy and autonomy. We can all build thriving families that are emotionally and physically healthier by merging humane practices with technological advances."- Karen Ehrlich CPM, LM, MA"How to describe this amazing book! A rich, and richly illustrated – with color photographs – compendium of current knowledge and wisdom about childbirth, midwifery, human rights, social justice, and more. Presenting models from around the world that are effectively challenging the status quo. And the personal stories of courageous women and men standing up to unjust systems of maternity care make it compelling reading. I hope it inspires you to discuss the critical issues it raises with others who care as deeply as you and I about creating an equitable world, one that is safe and supportive for all childbearing women, babies and families."- Suzanne Arms, author of Immaculate Deception: A New Look at Women and Childbirth in America"We use this book as the text for our The Nurse-Midwife in Global and Community Health course. The students learn about midwifery in regions they will never get to visit, and at the same time make connections between the challenges midwives face and the care they give in very different locales. Additionally, they tell me it is the only text book they keep to reread just for fun!"- Nancy A. Niemczyk, Nurse-Midwife Program Director and Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh

• Introduction: Speaking Truth to Power for Social Justice in Pregnancy and Childbirth PART 1: MODELS SPEAKING TRUTH THROUGH INDEPENDENCE: INCORPORATING LOCAL PRACTITIONERS TO KEEP COMMUNITY BIRTH SAFE 1. Bumi Sehat Bali: Birth on the Checkered Cloth 2. To Bring Back Birth Is To Bring Back Life: The Nunavik Story 3. Home-Based Lifesaving Skills: Harnessing Local Leaders to Prevent Maternal and Perinatal Mortality PART 2: MODELS THAT TACKLE THREATS TO NORMAL BIRTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES OF ACCESS TO CARE 4. "There’s something wrong here": African American Women and Their Babies Are at Greatest Risk in the USA 5. Bringing Back Breech: Dismantling Hierarchies and Re-Skilling Practitioners 6. What Made her Think She Could Win in Court? Models of Success in Seeking Justice Across Cultures in a Neoliberal World 7. What If Another 10% of Deliveries Occurred at Home or in a Birth Center? The Economics and Politics of Out-of-Hospital Birth in the United States 8. Changing Childbirth in China: Family Support Still Has Its Place in Maternity Care PART 3: MODELS IN TROUBLED AREAS: CONFLICT, POST-CONFLICT, OR DISASTER 9. Implementing the International Childbirth Initiative (ICI) in Disaster Zones: Bumi Sehat’s Experience from Aceh, Haiti, the Philippines, and Nepal 10. Israeli and Palestinian Midwives: Birthing Peace 11. Scraping Maternity Care Off the Back Burner in Afghanistan: Reminding "Multi-Sector" Funding to Include the Community 12. Three Generations of Rural Community Midwifery in the Philippines: Through War, Earthquake, Tsunami, and Now a War on Homebirth PART 4: PRAGMATIC MODELS: CHALLENGING BIRTH MANAGEMENT NORMS AND NURTURING PROFESSIONAL COOPERATION 13. Cooperative Competition among the Professions: Pizza and Other Keys to Disarmament in Canada 14. Birth with No Regret in Turkey 15. Where There Are No Doctors: Shifting Major Surgical Operations to Non-Physician Clinics for Better Outcomes in Mozambique and Tanzania 16. Solitary and Kin-Assisted Rarámuri Births: Ideals and Realities Conclusion: Speaking Truth to Power Individually and Collectively Will Redistribute the Power