David Meets Goliath-Ricki Lake and The Business of Being Born vs ACOG/AMA

I've returned from a long, delicious family vacation in Kauai revived and recharged and excited to discover that outside of my Pacific wonderland a media buzz was swirling around the contentious issue of women's right to choose to birth their babies at home.
It is still a remarkable fact that in 2008, it is still illegal for midwives to provide home birth services to women in 28 states. Unbelievable! This is primarily due to the lobbying powers of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and their hand-wringing fear that the 1% of births that take place in the home might become a whopping 2%! The buzz centers around the American Medical Association's announcement regarding 3 resolutions that affect home birth and the practice of direct-entry midwives. Their proclamation names Ricki Lake and warns of the dangers of celebrities touting their home births to the ignorant public. One of the resolutions wants to make it illegal for CPMs (Certified Professional Midwives) to attend births. They claim that we are not formally trained and that we learn our trade in a non-regulated apprenticeship.It is their desire that only CNM's (Certified Nurse Midwives) attend births in a hospital setting.
It is a demeaning debate, something akin to school desegregation or granting women the right to vote.Thankfully there are many rational voices out there rallying in midwives' defense. Read an excellent summation of what we CPM's are trained to do and why the AMA/ACOG giants are likely to be fighting a losing battle...http://womenshealthnews.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/thoughts-on-the-ama-homebirth-ban-ricki-lake-and-midwifery/#comment-21549
Fortunately, ABC and Good Morning America chose to focus primarily on Ricki Lake's home birth story and commentary by an obstetrician who advocates birthing at home for low-risk women.

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The comments section of the Good Morning America web page, featuring a largely positive portrayal of home birth and Ricki Lake's activism ,is overwhelmingly in support of out-of-hospital births. The videotape of the show and ensuing comments can be found at http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=5220399&page=1

I urge you to write your stories. Let the world know what home birth has meant to you. Help expose the lies presented by the ubiquitous Amy TuteurMD who unfailingly sounds like a dummy in the hands of an ACOG ventriloquist. This "doctor" is a pop-up on any discussion that is pro-home birth...everywhere on the web.Her forte is numeric prestidigitation regarding birth statistics and she is absolutely soulless.
If there was ever a time to tell the world what birthing your amazing children at home has meant to you and your family...it is now.
There is so much that we are losing in this modern world of ours, so much that our culture is forgetting as time whizzes by in a technological blur. Business drives the economies of all nations, let's remove birth from that realm.Let's not forget to stay connected to what makes us human. Let's not lose our connection with the earth and the sky and let's not forget that we are sentient beings who deserve to be born into a welcoming home where the heart and hands of those who deliver and "catch" us are filled with love, joy and reverence.