AMA Opposing Home Births?

The American Medical Association (AMA) is once again tampering with your health freedom.
AMA has agreed to support proposed legislation that could make having a planned birth in one’s home difficult, to virtually impossible.
While no actual legislation has been written, the AMA has agreed to back a measure called “Resolution 205,” which is a request to support the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ (ACOG) position that home births are not safe.  ACOG says that women who give birth outside of a clinical setting risk put themselves and their newborns at risk.
This puts the AMA and ACOG at odds with those who say women should have the choice to give birth at home or in a hospital. The American College of Nurse-Midwives has issued an unequivocal statement in support of planned home births, citing a study in the British Medical Journal that showed home births to be no riskier than hospital births.
Although only about 1 percent of babies born in the United States are born outside of a hospital, the debate has been framed in some circles as a battle between our country’s troubled medical system and mothers-to-be who want to break free of it.
ACOG’s call for support came after the release of “The Business of Being Born,” a recent documentary by actress and former talk-show host Ricki Lake, in which she depicted the final stage of her pregnancy, up to the point of giving birth.  The ACOG appears to be stung by the film’s criticism of the medical establishment in regards to hospital birthing.  The ACOG denies that their decision to ask the AMA to support legislation to curtail home birthing (and criticism of what they consider under-qualified “lay-midwives”) had “nothing to do with Ricki Lake.  Yet, in the ACOG proposal to the AMA’s annual June conference, Lake was called out by name.
The ACOG’ says their goal is not to criminalize home birthing. Still, the group’s moves may leave key questions unanswered: If the medical group wishes to let the public know how it feels about home births, why not simply issue a public service announcement? Why the call for “legislation?”
One of ACOG’s dissenting members, Dr. Stuart Fischbein of California, told ABCNEWS.com he has no doubt ACOG wants to ban home births. Even if officials never pass legislation, the effect of their statement — now approved by the AMA — will have a chilling effect on the practice, he said.
To read the full article, visit: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5340949&page=1