The statement “Childbirth is dangerous” really intrigued me. I am curious how dangerous people think childbirth is, and how this compares to how dangerous it actually is- for instance, is it more risky than crossing the road? I would like to compare this perceived risk to the practical risk, and how this in turn compares to the measures doctors put in to prevent this risk eg. fetal monitoring etc.
This links to my title because if the medicalisation of childbirth is essential to prevent a high risk, this would answer my question in that, no, childbirth is not becoming too medicalised as this medicalisation is saving lives. But if childbirth is comparatively non-risky, surely all this medical intervention is unwarranted, and only used to pander to a perceived risk.
I will be conducting further surveys on perceptions of childbirth, and then I will use other resources such as Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin to look at the actual risk of a labour with little medical intervention. It will be interesting to see how these results compare.
Midwifery EPQ 