“We have been taught to birth in a way that is contrary to our very nature.” – Marie Mongan
The birthing landscape is changing. And it’s about time! Birthing people are once again recognising their Birth Sovereignty and they are feeling confident enough to demand it is respected.
As more and more birthers are turning within, to the love and trust they have in their bodies, they are starting to reclaim the belief that all they need to birth their babies is within them. This renewed knowledge is fostering their demand that sovereignty in birth is respected and supported by all who enter their pregnancy and birth space. And I have to say…I am here for ALL of it!
A Little History (aka…what the hell happened?)
Way back when all healing and nurturing came from the hands and the healing spirit of the village wise woman, birth was a rite of passage and a ‘Celebration of Life’. There was no belief or suggestion that labour was too long, too painful and altogether too dreadful. No fear of big babies or small pelvises. No pressure to watch the clock and make sure gestation didn’t go on for one day ‘too long’. It was just known, on a cellular level that if you could grow the baby you could birth the baby.
But then women-led healing was delegitimized to make way for patriarchy, capitalism, and the emerging medical industry.
Without delving too deeply into the history of birthing within a misogynistic, patriarchal obstetric system, it is clear that we left our primal, primitive birth instincts behind and were groomed to believe that our bodies were broken.
But it wasn’t always like this. As a matter of fact, in Ancient Greece, Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, wrote of the mind-body connection and emphasised the importance of deep relaxation during birthing. He and Aristotle, both advocated for the continuous presence of a birth support person during labour to accommodate the labouring person’s needs and feelings and to help them achieve deep relaxation in order to bring about an easy birth. Sounds a lot like birthing with a Hypnobirth with a Doula, doesn’t it?
While medicine was in its infancy and was far from perfect it certainly seemed to understand the natural process of birth.
Moving forward a few hundred years and the village wise women continued to provide the care, support and herbal remedies required for pregnancy, birth and basic health. Maternal and infant mortality rates were high, however, it needs to be recognised that it was a time before germs had been discovered and hygiene was generally poor. The majority of deaths in or just after childbirth were the result of infections that nobody yet understood.
But alas, the wheels of time, the Reformation of the Catholic Church and men got in the way and the wise women, midwives and herbalists became the target of witch hunts forcing their learnings and skills to either die out or go underground until the fervour died down.
In the 17th century, European physicians began to attend the births of royal and aristocratic families who wanted to set themselves aside from the lower classes who were tended by midwives. The practise grew and spread to the middle classes around the same time that doctors put forward the idea that birth is a pathological condition requiring medical interventions.
The medical profession has been trying to find ways of convincing birthing people that birth is inherently dangerous and can’t be achieved without interventions ever since.
From the mid-1900s when it was realised that normal physiological births were actually a rarity in hospitals, all of the interventions we know today were introduced or applied to prevent the ‘evils’ of birth. But nobody investigated why the educated and wealthy were struggling to give birth in hospitals. Rather, the myth (and lie) that birth is dangerous and only doctors can fix it was spread far and wide.
When we use our modern knowledge to look back on the history of birthing in these hospitals, it is clear how the fear of complications and the threat of death, perpetuated by the medical profession, caused the average birthing person to look on labour and birth with fear and horror.
Fear and feeling unsafe are the enemies of physiological birth and negatively impact the body’s natural birthing ability.
This one vital birthing fact was lost (or ignored) for quite some time by the medical profession and was only kept alive by midwives and people passionate about birth. Sadly, this vital piece of birthing information is still rarely recognised or acknowledged by hospitals and their policies today.
But the simple fact is…
When left to birth in their sovereignty birthing people have always, and still do, manage to safely birth their babies with no requirement for medical interventions.
Now I am not saying that medical obstetric emergencies never occur. They do and when they do, there is definitely no question that obstetricians and doctors are the people you want by your side. But that is exactly the point. You need them when you need them, not when you don’t. You wouldn’t go to an Ear Nose and Throat surgeon just because you have a sore throat, because we know in most instances our body will manage the condition itself, but if it gets worse and we end up with complications we know where to go. It should be the same with birth and this is where Birth Sovereignty comes in.
So what exactly is ‘Birth Sovereignty’?
Basically, it is the wisdom that a person has ultimate authority and governance over their own body during pregnancy and birth. It is that simple! It is your body and your baby, therefore ALL related decisions are yours and they will be respected!
But let’s break it down into each component, so you can see how wondrous and simple it is.
Birth Sovereignty:
- Is physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, cultural, and ancestral ownership of one’s self, one’s physiology, sexuality and birthing process
- Supersedes any other law, policy, governing body, profession or organisation
- Involves the ongoing commitment to break down any barriers in the way of intuitive, perceptive and person-centred birth care
- Is the understanding and acknowledgement that a birthing person is free to choose their birth setting, birth provider and method of birth and they are free to change their mind at any time
- Is the understanding that a birthing person is free to choose an obstetrician, midwife, traditional birthkeeper or their own intuitive wisdom to be present in their birthing space and they are free to change their mind at any time
- Is the understanding that a birthing person is free to choose to birth spontaneously and without intervention. This includes birth attendants, language, suggestion, medications or medical interventions. Or they may choose, or refuse, any of these interventions, at any time, after education, and legally valid informed consent.
- Is the understanding that a person may wait to begin labour, or choose to induce labour after thorough education, explanation and legally valid informed consent. Or they may choose to birth via Cesarean. Regardless of what they choose, they should be no less respected in their choice, or their wishes any less honoured.
- Means sovereignty in any and every birth setting. It begins and ends with the birthing person. Every professional or attendant who enters the birthing space must understand the profound impact and imprint of the birth experience on the parent, baby and family, and speak and act accordingly.
- Heals and protects birthing people, babies and families
- Is intuitive and physiological
- Is sacred and instinctive
- Is possible!
Now while Birth Sovereignty does not guarantee a complication-free physiological birth what it does ensure is that every decision that is made during the planning and process of birth has been made by the birthing person who is acting in their full power. How AMAZING is that?!
Is Birth Sovereignty something you are interested in? Would you like to explore it a little further or be supported to have a sovereign birth? I would love to share my passion with you and help you feel prepared to have the birth you dream of.
* The Taproot Doula Project has a lovely blog on Birth Sovereignty where it is described so beautifully. In full disclosure, rather than reinventing the wheel, I used Kate’s beautiful descriptions for part of my content.
