Maternity Care: HONK! Just Be Cause.

I tried to question my induction when I got drafted to go fight in Nam.  I ended up joining the Air Force to prevent becoming fodder for some congressional shell game.  I haven't changed my attitude about questioning things, which got me into heat quite a lot in the military when it came to following orders.  My way or the highway?  For me this was situational.  Your way, if I don't get hurt, and if I haven't come up with a better way.  I spent over twenty years building a better mouse trap.

But that isn't what this is about.  This is about doing something meaningful with your day off on Labor Day.  This is about making a statement for something near and dear to my heart. 

No, it isn't about drawing colorful signs.  Although this is the one that caught my attention as I drove passed the crowd lining the street, waving at me. 

I parked to find out what all the hoopla was for, grabbing the cameras just in case.

I was impressed to see that these folks weren't the scowling monkeys I'm used to seeing waving signs at me.  These were happy people doing something worthy of a beautiful sunny.

It's about children.  More importantly, it's about mothers and childbirth.  Both are dear to me and, for once, this isn't all about abortion.  My personal feelings on abortion are moot since I think that particular moral judgment is best left in the hands of women, since I have no physical or mental point of reference.  But, like I said, that's not what this is all about.

This is about the most beneficial maternity care based on the highest quality, most current medical evidence.  It's about women being fully informed and understanding artificial induction and C-section surgery.  It's about a woman's rights.

I'm not going to restate what their website is much better at getting across.  Although, I think they need to make the "read more" buttons bigger at the bottom of each section.  

 

If you are a woman of child bearing age, please don't miss the opportunity to check them out.  Hey, you'd do your due diligence for any investment, right?  Children are our biggest investment! 

 

I applaud the efforts of this organization, and all these folks that gave of their time on a holiday.  I hope they were headed out for a well deserved bar-b-que afterwards.

The founder of the organization states it pretty clearly up front:

“This movement isn’t about natural birth vs. medicated birth.

It’s not about hospital birth vs. home birth or birth center birth.

It’s about women being capable of making safer, more informed decisions about their care and that of their babies, when they are given full and accurate information about their care options, including the potential harms, benefits, and alternatives.

Then, within that choice, they are treated with dignity and compassion.”

                                  ~ Dawn Thompson, Founder of ImprovingBirth.org