While western medicine has made tremendous progress in reducing infant and mother mortality, we have also cultivated stereotypes and assumptions about the delivery of a baby that can be a disservice to the mother. Physicians and hospitals have perpetuated a myth that women can’t deliver a baby on their own and it is only safe to give birth at a hospital. Participants in this medical fantasy have also lobbied governments for laws giving them a near monopoly on for the reimbursement of maternity services limiting financial access to midwives and doulas.
