A major problem with birth as we know it

It really seems as though, recently we are hearing about a large number of women, and frankly I believe ANY women going through this is a number that is large, being court ordered to have a cesarean section, having child protective services at their door or removing their child because of their choice regarding birth, and frankly women not being allowed the right to real informed consent on medical procedures in child birth, which is federal law mind you.

Today, I will share something I just read on the blog of an amazing writer in the birth community, on the Unnecesarean Blog. As I read this, it physically hurt my heart. I can’t help but feel for a woman or any woman that was so violated by a hospital for birthing the way she wanted to.

“On January 13, 1996, two decades after Corea’s essay was written, Laura Pemberton of Florida experienced what might be the closest to the fictitious futuristic scenario in U.S. history. According to the National Advocates for Pregnant Women site, a lawyer was appointed to her soon-to-be born at home child and a cesarean ordered by the court. She was forcibly and violently removed from her home and taken to the hospital for unwanted, unnecessary surgery. [Emphasis mine]
Laura Pemberton scoured Tallahassee and the surrounding areas for an obstetrician who would attend her in a vaginal birth for her fourth child after a prior caesarean delivery. She was rebuffed by every doctor she contacted; the risk of catastrophic uterine rupture was too high, they told her. Believing in her body’s ability to give birth vaginally, Mrs. Pemberton decided to deliver at home rather than agree to what she viewed as unnecessary surgery. More than a day into her labor with no sign of complications, she nevertheless worried that she was becoming dehydrated. She reasoned that the best way to safely manage her labor would be to go to a hospital for intravenous fluids, and then return home. Mrs. Pemberton entered the hospital expecting to receive care and assuming that she, like other patients, had a right to informed medical decision-making, including the right to consent to or to decline recommended medical procedures. When she arrived, she was placed on a fetal monitor that showed that her baby’s heartbeat was strong, and that her labor was progressing, albeit slowly. However, when the obstetrician on call realized that she was attempting a VBAC, she refused to give the IV that Mrs. Pemberton needed—unless she consented to a caesarean. Mrs. Pemberton was alerted by a nurse that obstetricians were about to seek a court-ordered caesarean section. Without receiving the fluids and while still in active labor, she fled the hospital out of the back steps in her bare feet.
Mrs. Pemberton made it home to continue her labor, her confidence bolstered by the baby’s strong heart tones. Her progressing labor was interrupted by a knock at the door: it was a sheriff and the State Attorney. They entered her home and even her bedroom, following her throughout her house to make sure she did not flee again. They told her that she had to return to the hospital, because a court order forcing her to undergo a caesarean section had been granted. Neighbors looked on as she was removed from her home, still in active labor, with her legs strapped together on a stretcher. Once at the hospital, she was allowed a “hearing” in her hospital room, with an armed sheriff, the State Attorney, and obstetricians crowding her room. Although a lawyer was appointed to represent the fetus, no lawyer was appointed for her.She spoke between contractions, without the benefit of counsel, telling the judge about the extensive research that she had done to support her decisions. Despite the fact that she could already feel her baby’s head in the birth canal and neither she nor the baby showed any signs of danger, the obstetricians were convinced that she exposed her fetus to too much risk by continuing to deliver vaginally: the judge agreed. Laura Pemberton was sedated, and her baby removed via caesarean section.
Mrs. Pemberton left the state and went on to deliver four more children, including a set of twins, vaginally.”

How can something this outrageous take place in America. The land of the free? Or is it just free if you are not pregnant? Now there is a truly fine line between a pregnant woman, or woman in labor deliberately harming or endangering her unborn child, but in a situation like this, or the New Jersey case that has been dragging on for 3 years now, these women were not putting their baby in danger. Not one bit.
They just made an active decision not to undergo major surgery to birth their baby.
One woman giving birth to a healthy baby, vaginally, which was taken and thrown into the Foster care system. The other forced to have a cesarean, to go on to give birth, VAGINALLY, safely, and even to TWINS with no issues.

There was no “informed consent” in these cases. In fact, there was no consent at all. It is scary the turns that the maternity care system in the country are taking.
It makes some women scared to even have children, or anymore children for fear of this type of violence against women.
And that is exactly what the case of Laura Pemberton was, VIOLENCE against a birthing woman.

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