While many San Diegans spent Labor Day at the beach, park, or at a party with friends, more than 200 people celebrated a very different kind of “Labor Day.”
They gathered in La Jolla, to rally for natural child birth. The two-hour event was organized by improvingbirth.org which urges women and their partners to make informed decisions about how their babies are born.
The group urges moms-to-be to learn the benefits and risks of ultra-sound, induced labor, and cesarean sections.
Organizers say c-sections are sometimes performed as a convenience for the doctor and medical staff, instead of being a medical necessity.
“If you decide ultimately that you need an elective cesarean, you do that,” said Ester Altman, who helped organize the rally on Genesee Avenue. “That’s okay. But first, inform yourself of all the facts.”
The group says more woman should demand what it calls “research-based maternity” care, which it says is not offered in many U.S. hospitals.
That research includes evidence that women can have a vaginal birth after having delivered by Cesarean; that it’s okay to eat and drink while in labor, and that babies should not be separated from their mothers immediately after birth.
“We want quality care, but we also need co-operative care,” said Dawn Thompson, founder of improvingbirth.org. “You know, our physicians should be having discussions with their patients, not just telling them what they’re going to do and when they’re going to do it.
The La Jolla rally was one of more than 100 similar rallies attended by thousands of women, children and families in 45 states.
