On our bookshelf

July 8, 2009 | Print

The Business of Being Born

Highlights: Rikki Lake and documentary filmmaker Abby Epstein created The Business of Being Born to empower women about giving birth. They follow several pregnant women and their partners as they learn about birth options and make their choices. In interviews, Ina May Gaskin and Dr. Michel Odent share their insights, while midwives, obstetricians and hospital residents talk about their experiences delivering babies.

The Business of Being Born traces the history of birth in the US, how we moved from midwives to doctors, and how that change affects the birth experience for women and their babies. The film also follows a midwife as she cares for pregnant women and delivers babies in New York City. Lake and Epstein demystify home birth, and start a conversation about birth that they’ve carried into their site, My Best Birth. My Best Birth offers pregnancy and birth information and resources, and currently features a webisode with Cindy Crawford sharing her decision to change from a hospital to home birth.

Lowlights: The film is pro natural childbirth and strongly portrays the less appealing details about hospital births.

Why we like it: Lake and Epstein share their birth stories as part of the film–Epstein becomes pregnant during the filming, and her birth is different than she had expected. With the film, site and recent book, Your Best Birth, they’re supporting women and their partners to get informed, have more conversations, and think through the birth process.

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