The Business Of Being Born Summary

The Business of Being Born is a documentary that explores the current childbirth practices in the United States. It is produced by former talk-show host Ricki Lake, and it compares different childbirth methods, such as the use of midwives for home births, natural births, C-sections and epidurals. The film criticizes the over medicalization of childbirth as it is treated in the American health care system as a medical emergency as opposed to a natural occurrence. It exposes the unnecessary uses of drugs and costly interventions women are forced into without having been educated by the medical professionals on why it is being used and its potential harmful effects to the woman and the fetus. This film documents water births and home
births,
This medicalization of pregnancy is one of the many aspects of a woman’s health that has been deemed as an ailment and something that women cannot control.
The patriarchal model that is responsible for the idea that women are essentially abnormal is rooted in the belief that women are victims of their hormones and reproductive systems and that pregnancy is pathological and a clinical crisis. Historically, this patriarchal model has been the reason why reproduction is seen as a biological defect rather than a natural occurrence. The issue of women’s reproductive health is also shown in the film as it shows how the health care system lacks the implementation of health education programs that would guide women through their options when it comes to childbirth. Instead, the health care system constantly misinforms or fails to educate women on their options and the risks associated with medical procedures and drugs that are given to women sometimes without their consent.
Watching the Business of Being Born changed my perspective of the