Gina Crosly-Corcoran, The Feminist Breeder, like most natural childbirth/homebirth bloggers is a dangerous clown. A clown because she is so stunningly ignorant that she can’t fathom the depth of her own ignorance, and dangerous because she actually thinks she is knowledgeable. She’s even more dangerous whenever it becomes clear to her that she is wrong yet again; she deletes the evidence, makes no acknowledgement or apology for error, and proceeds as if she hadn’t been shown to be deadly wrong.
Her latest effort at “educating” her followers to her own level of stupidity was Facebook sharing (and then deleting) a piece about nuchal cords (umbilical cords wrapped around the neck). It illustrates so much that is wrong with the claims of natural childbirth advocates, including the habit of deleting evidence when they are wrong instead of acknowledging their mistakes.
1. The natural childbirth community is both an echo chamber and a stupidity amplifier.
Gina, a doula who has worked at a miniscule 20 births, referenced a doula in training, who hasn’t even done that, who quotes an “independent” Australian midwife who claims “the only way I can work to my full scope of practice, and provide the care I believe women deserve is to work as an independent homebirth midwife.” In other words a midwife who believes that she knows better than all the other midwives and obstetricians in Australia. This amplification of ignorance, spewed forth by those who are untrained, poorly trained or have rejected their training, is what passes for “education” among natural childbirth advocates.
2. It contains no scientific evidence of any kind.
What proportion of babies die from nuchal cords? You won’t find that information anywhere because none of the three “geniuses” involved in bringing this nonsense to you has a clue. They don’t tell you that 10-15% of stillbirths are associated with cord problems like nuchal cords and true knots. Without that information, anything they say on the topic is crap.
Gina likes to boast that she is “public health scholar” (instead of what she really is, a student). That makes it all the more mystifying that she appears never to read scientific papers, never quotes the relevant portions, has no inkling of the depth and breadth of the obstetric literature, rarely quotes the relevant statistics, and never performs any kind of analysis of the data that is being discussed. What exactly are they teaching her at her public health program if, after more than a year of classes, she is still incapable of even the most basic analysis?
3. As it typical of most natural childbirth/homebirth “information,” it is a half truth. Not all nuchal cords are dangerous. Only tight nuchal cords are dangerous, but according to what passes for “reasoning” in the natural childbirth community, if 100% of nuchal cords don’t end in death, then 0% of nuchal cords are dangerous. It’s the equivalent of claiming that since not buckling your seatbelt doesn’t have a 100% death rate (or anywhere close), not buckling your seatbelt is therefore safe and that anyone who suggests you should buckle your seatbelt is a fearmongerer.
4. It exploits the ignorance of basic physiology among natural childbirth avatars and their followers. Lauren Pace Specht, the nitwit who shared this piece originally thinks she is being snarky when she writes:
Nobody seems to realize that fetuses aren’t breathing through their necks, so it really doesn’t matter if the cord is looped around it. It’s not “choking” them as people envision.
Duh. No obstetrician is worried about nuchal cords because they believe a fetus breathes through their trachea (“neck”). The problem is not that the baby’s neck is compressed, the problem is that the baby’s cord, which is functioning as an air hose, is compressed. Imagine that you were breathing through an air hose with a knot in it wrapped around your neck. If the knot cuts off the supply of air, it doesn’t matter whether or not your neck is compressed; you’ll die for lack of oxygen. Specht isn’t snarky. She is clueless.
5. The ignorant reference the ignorant. When multiple people pointed out to Gina that she has no idea what she is talking about, she referred to information she got from other doulas who are as ignorant as she is.
6. Babies may die from the “education” provided by ignorant fools like Gina, and she will never face any responsibility for those deaths. The most important practical difference between obstetricians and “birth workers” is that the former bear responsibility for the information they present, while the latter face no consequence for themselves. Does Gina plan to take any responsibility for the incredible stupidity that dribbles from her pen? Of course not.
To summarize, Gina, the righteously ignorant, spouts deadly misinformation that exploits the lack of basic physiology knowledge among her followers, depends on a half truth, references other equally clueless natural childbirth advocates, and could lead to the death of your baby. And when she finally recognizes that she is completely and utterly wrong, she deletes the post without acknowledging her mistake.
Does Gina care that she is transmitting and amplifying stupidity? Of course not. In her ignorance, she is PROUD of herself. Does she plan to take any blame if a baby dies from the misinformation that she regularly conveys?
Absolutely not. You can bet your baby’s life on it.
