The argument over the safety of home births is nothing new. Women who choose home births have been called “crazy” or “irresponsible,” and blamed for subjecting their babies to “child abuse.”
In the United States, home deliveries make up less than 1 percent of all births, or approximately 35,000 per year. Home births are associated with a higher total neonatal mortality risk, a higher risk of a five-minute Apgar score of zero (meaning no heart beat), increased risk for neonatal seizures, and serious neurological dysfunction compared with hospital births, according to the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Twenty-five percent of those births were not planned to take place at home, which may partially explain the poor statistical outcomes.
Conversely, in England, where the Duchess of Sussex will give birth, the most recent studies have shown no significant differences in safety between obstetric units and non-obstetric units for low-risk women. Additionally, for women who have given birth before, planned home births resulted in fewer interventions such as the use of forceps or a vacuum, induced labor, or antibiotics for the mother, with no impact to the baby’s health. Similar findings were present in Canada and Denmark, where midwife and doula care are highly integrated into the obstetrics medical system.
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