PBS MUST SEE



Birth is one of the least understood and most important un-addressed issues in America today. Yet its impact on each of us is profound and long-lasting. The issues are not only physical but also psychological, political, social, ecological, and financial. In the United States alone birth is a $50 billion dollar-a-year unregulated industry. Our nation spends more per person on birth than any other. Yet all our technological sophistication has produced a model for birth that is by many measures a failure.*

BEING BORN takes us into the fascinating and little-known history of childbirth in the United States from the beginning of the 20th Century to the present. Childbirth practices have been altered more in the last 100 years than in all preceding centuries. As a result, what we accept today as "normal" bears little resemblance to the natural biological process that has evolved over millions of years.

BEING BORN tells the story of our attempts to control nature. This television special takes us on a journey that begins decades before women finally earned the right to vote. That was a time when many women and babies died needlessly and physicians were largely helpless to prevent it. Our journey continues throughout the 20th Century as we observe the advent of new medical tools, medicines, procedures and surgeries. Today most people expect all births to take place in a hospital under the control of physician-surgeons. Most American women are so fearful about giving birth that they happily turn the process over to outside "experts". Inductions and cesarean surgeries are regularly scheduled to fit the busy calendar of the modern woman and her doctor.

BEING BORN dramatically demonstrates that birth can and ought to be a developmentally significant process and an empowering and intimate experience for mother and baby. The solution to the question of how to achieve the safest and best birth for everyone lies in the thoughtful use of science and technology working in the service of biology and ancient wisdom. The challenge is whether or not we choose to take that path.

*1) Out of 39 industrialized countries, there are only 11 with worse infant mortality rates than the United States. Among those with better rates than the US are the Czech Republic, Cuba, and Northern Ireland (Source: March of Dimes)
2) The US rate of prematurity and low birth weight - which accounts for most infant death and long-term health problems - is the highest in the industrialized world and continues to rise.