politics and birth

There is an increasing trend that really, really bothers me. I'm not sure if it indicates a problem within the birthing sphere or if it is evidence of a general misunderstanding of the political "spectrum" as we in the West conceive it (id est left wing = big government, right wing = small government), but it's there and it concerns me: repeated references to natural birthing, pro-midwifery, pro-informed choice advocates as obviously being "left-wing".

There are two main reasons why. First, good, informed, positive, empowered birth experiences do not belong to the left wing: they belong to everyone. They belong to every woman, every family, regardless of ideology, regardless of religion, regardless of the family structure. Everyone. And those of us who advocate for precisely these birth possibilities may belong to any ideology, any religion and any family structure. They are not inherently linked, nor are any of them necessarily mutually exclusive. Making blanket statements about how empowered women are automatically left-wing, or automatically not people of faith is not only patently untrue, but unfair.

The second reason is fairly simple. As an advocate for informed choice, I advocate for every woman, every family to make decisions for themselves. Give people the necessary information they need regarding prenatal care, birth choices, and infant and child care and then let them decide for themselves. What has shocked me - as someone who used to fairly happily proclaim herself to be stolidly left-wing - is that much of the left-wing as I have encountered it doesn't seem entirely in keeping with this personal ideology. There is a certain degree of "don't worry: we've done the research and we know what's best for you". And that doesn't fly with me, even if what is being prescribed is precisely what I would have chosen for myself and what I believe to be best. Because what I might choose may differ greatly from what others may choose, whether I like it or not.

With this post, I'm pretty obviously coming out of the closet as non-left-wing. I couldn't say what I am, precisely, or where I fall on the entirely inadequate left-right political spectrum, but I do know these two things with certainty: I am always in favour of choice, and I refuse to tie up birth advocacy with any political identity. To do so is exclusionary, and if we are advocating for all women we simply cannot start excluding people.