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Read other letters about this article
Let's talk about the human pelvis.
Unlike our closest ancestors (primates) human beings can walk and run upright for very long periods of time and very fast. This evolutionary advantage has served us well. Human beings have spanned the globe, and we did it on foot, long before cars, trains and planes.
The downside it that the tilt of our pelvis that allows us to walk upright with such ease, complicates childbirth. Human babies are born face down. Well, usually. And they are born in sucha fashion that makes it difficult and dangerous for a woman to assist in her own child birth. A mother cannot safely extract her child from the birth canal. So human labor is long, painful and requires assistance. Primates on the other hand have quick relatively painless births without assistance. But they can't scoop up their newborn and run from large predators either.
Our ancestors underwent changes that made assisted birth a necessity, BUT they also had evolved social networks that guaranteed that mothers would never be alone in childbirth. It's only now in our modern era that a pregnant woman would be separted from her family and community.
People love to say that prostitution is the oldest profession, but I assure you that MIDWIFE is the oldest profession. To call unassisted birth a good idea and paint it as natural is incredibly ignorant. As Miss Harris stated, more press needs to be given to providing safe and comfortable birth to mothers. That means a birth that is assisted and balances the needs of mother, child and society. For some women that means drugs and hospitals, for some midwives at home. For many others it is something in between.
