In my efforts to expose American homebirth midwives as woefully ignorant fools I have no better allies than homebirth midwives and their supporters.
Case in point, this tweet from the annual conference of the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) that took place this weekend:
The woman behind this statement is Roanna Rosewood. According to her website:
Roanna is an the author of the Amazon Bestseller, Cut, Stapled, & Mended: When One Woman Reclaimed Her Body and Gave Birth on Her Own Terms After Cesarean, an award-winning international speaker, co-founder and host of Birth Plan Radio, and the executive action chair of Human Rights in Childbirth and most importantly, a mother. In her not-so-humble opinion, the latter makes her a true birth expert.
Bestseller? It’s #143,785, but Roanna is obviously into hyperbole.
Human Rights in Childbirth? You remember them, the folks who think human rights in childbirth means protecting baby slaughterers and other incompetents.
Being a mother makes her an expert in birth? I wonder if she thinks she’s an expert in cardiology because she has a beating heart.
There are only a few words in the tweet, but they convey so much about American homebirth midwives:
1. They are startlingly immature
Rosewood’s claim is a great example of the magical thinking that characterizes American homebirth midwifery. If you wish it, it is so. You can be a best selling author even when your book is ranked #143,785 because you said so. Defending women who commit manslaughter constitutes supporting human rights in childbirth because you said so. You’re an expert in birth because you said so. Your vagina has “superpowers” because you said so.
2. They lack basic education in childbirth
This is obviously going to come as a shock to the folks at MANA, but the vagina has no powers at all in childbirth. In is entirely passive. The uterus and the mother’s pushing efforts do all the work. Claiming that the vagina is powerful in childbirth is like claiming that the highway makes cars function.
3. They are biological essentialists
Women are constantly being reduced to their uteri, vagina and breasts. I’ve yet to see a homebirth advocate claim that her brain has superpowers. Why is that?
4. They are woefully lacking in self-esteem
You really have to have a pathetically low sense of self-esteem to be impressed with the notion that your vagina has superpowers.
5. They are fools
Not only did a nitwit make a ridiculous statement, but it was promptly and publicly relayed to the other fools following MANA13 as if it were wisdom.
Homebirth kills babies and it’s easy to see why. Anyone who believes that women’s vaginas have superpowers is not qualified to provide care in the inherently dangerous process of childbirth.
Why would any woman hire fools like these?
