Five videos to watch if you’re new to maternity care advocacy
For years it has been my full time job to think about how to transform and improve maternity care, so my only challenge when deciding to March for Moms this Mother’s Day is which of the myriad possible things to put on my sign and t-shirt.
But if you’re new to maternity care as part of your resist and persist efforts, here are five videos to get you started learning the issues and igniting your activism to make change.
Racism creates access barriers. It also “gets into the body” and physically harms women and fetuses. And it affects families’ ability to thrive and be resilient. This TEDWomen talk is an incredible primer on the intersection of racial justice and maternal and infant health, and the importance of community-integrated, relationship-based care.
Incredibly brainy people talk about why we need a revolution in human birth by explaining to us evolution of human birth. They put midwifery in the context of human history (we came on the scene about a million years ago!), discuss the policy crisis in the United States that is directly causing maternal and infant deaths, and talk about the role of technology and intervention in both saving lives and causing harm.
Know the 7 universal rights of childbearing people, and recognize ways they are routinely violated in both high-income and low-income countries. This beautifully produced video from the White Ribbon Alliance takes a global perspective on issues that are as relevant as ever in Trump era America.
Maternal and neonatal care MUST be essential benefits in whatever healthcare legislation we pass, and the Republicans have made it clear they are willing to trade in this political chip to get tax cuts for the wealthy and profits for hospitals and insurance companies. Jimmy Kimmel’s moving telling of his own story helps explain that this means policy makers are willing to let mothers and infants die and families go bankrupt. He also makes a beautiful plea for common sense and compassion as our way forward.
This video explores the harms of overuse of cesarean, through the narrative of a real woman, a doctor herself, to plan a vaginal birth after cesarean. She discovers there are effective strategies that can safely prevent cesareans, and that women’s rights to make informed choices and to access preventive care can be absent or severely restricted.
These are just five of my favorites. Maternity care advocates: what videos helped you deepen your understanding of the issues or motivated you to take action?
