Yet another battle of wits with unarmed opponents.
Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Dr. Amy will be speaking in a venue where we can’t delete her or ban her. What to do? Duh, try to censor her, of course!
Thus saith self-proclaimed “public health scholar” Gina.
Lots of homebirth advocates are afraid of me. My personal favorite explanation comes from Katie Prown. It’s a blast e-mail sent out by The Big Push for Midwives, bemoaning my influence, because of my:
highly negative, but to the average person, highly plausible, comments.
Highly negative and highly plausible … and highly accurate.
Why are homebirth advocates so afraid of me? Navelgazing Midwife said it best:
It’s really important for people to know that Dr. Amy isn’t going anywhere and that she will continue to be used as a source protesting Certified Professional Midwives and much of home birth. I know women who begin reading an article or post and if Tuteur is mentioned, abruptly end their reading session. Dr. Amy has been a source in over a dozen articles, from the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and Time.com; it’s unlikely she’s going anywhere…
As much as Dr. Amy Tuteur makes some people crazy, she has proven she is not a force to ignore. While I have issues with her delivery and am unsure about all she professes as fact, the woman has things to say that need to be heard and she’s going to be heard, whether we like it or not…
As one commentor on NGM’s site noted:
I am profoundly uncomfortable with all the Amy-bashing that goes on. Granted, the woman is strident, vocal, and opinionated, but what the heck?, since when are we all supposed to be shrinking violets? I suspect that she makes people profoundly uncomfortable because she zeroes in on all the stress points in midwifery care like a homing missile. Uneven/inadequate training? Check! Lack of accountability? Check! Absence of informed consent, good backup, timely transport? Check, check, check! She pushes people to address issues they’d rather gloss over. And THAT in my opinion is why she is so reviled.
It’s the same reason why every major professional homebirth advocate refuses to debate me. They know the facts are on my side. They know they’d be eviscerated in very short order.
And as NGM pointed out, I’m not going anywhere. If you’re a homebirth advocate constantly spewing nonsense, you should be very, very afraid.
