I just discovered an absolutely brilliant post that dispels the idiotic myth about home birth as some form of a feminist statement:

Home birth as a way to find a loving supportive environment and fight the enslavement of the patriarchy is absolute, utter nonsense.   It’s one of the only medical scenarios I can think of where women place health and welfare in jeopardy in order to feel “in control” and avoid intervention. . . Infants born to the lowest risk women at home are 2x more likely to die than a cohort of infants delivered in hospital, which includes some of the highest risk pregnancies.

I’ve had some home births fanatics visit my blog in the past. I also read their pseudo-feminist screechings about how they bravely place themselves outside of the patriarchal and controlling spaces of the hospital because they are so liberated. In reality, these are simply very immature women who have no idea how to function in public spaces and are never comfortable anywhere outside their homes. They get exploited by the mercenary and extremely irresponsible doulas who are dedicated to squeezing as much money as they can (and it’s usually a lot) out of these simpletons, and consequences be damned.

I’ve had an opportunity to hang out with a group of such home birth midwives (educated at super prestigious schools, mind you) and I got to know them very closely. So for me it has always been crystal clear that for such folks it is only and exclusively about the money they can get out of silly, infantile women who are most comfortable while barefoot, pregnant, and in their kitchens.