Midwifery Argumentative Essay

Unlike doctors that only have one agenda when it comes to a woman giving birth, midwives provide women with individualized care uniquely suited to their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and cultural needs. In the course of developing that relationship, midwives provide personalized and thorough care at many levels that empowers the soon-to-be mother in her ability to give birth and care for her baby. The maternity care practiced should be based on the needs of the mother and child and not the caregiver or provider; therefore, interventions should be avoided with the natural birthing process unless complications arise. Until 1940, midwives used to deliver most babies; however, there was a cultural and social shift that made women believe that the hospital provided a safer, pain-free birth without risks of hemorrhage, infection or death (Connerton). This movement has “grappled with economic, political, religious and racial differences” (Craven). Midwifery has been able to survive mostly through rural and low-income populations in the United States that is culturally entrenched in the belief of natural birth. The “right to choose has been transformed into a message of consumer rights” which is often distinguished among racial and class lines (Craven). The perception among wealthy women that it is their “right” to have control within their childbirth experiences is not shared by all low-income women, who often express their support for midwives in terms of affordability (Craven).