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Each year, approximately four million babies are born in the United States, the vast majority in a hospital with a physician in attendance. Three out of every four Americans becomes a parent, yet most of us know very little about the actual process of giving birth until we actually experience it. Until then, most of what we know is based on hearsay, misconception and TV sitcoms. BORN IN THE U.S.A., produced and directed by filmmakers (and parents) Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider, explores the current state of birthing in America - one that is far more medically based than many experts think necessary.
The state of birthing in the U.S. is complex and controversial. While we now routinely use technology that saves countless lives that might have been lost just ten years ago, this technology has also led to one of the highest cesarean section rates in the world - one in five - and more than half of all births involve some type of surgical or operative procedure.
Are all these procedures necessary? How much technology is appropriate for the average, low-risk woman? Can this technology actually create complications? How does the big business of healthcare and the threat of malpractice affect what choices are available? If we as a nation spend more per birth than any other country, why do we still have one of the highest rates of infant mortality in the industrialized world? Are the full range of safe options - including midwife-assisted births at home and in birthing centers - available to all women?
BORN IN THE U.S.A. is the first public television documentary to provide an in-depth look at childbirth in America. It offers a fascinating overview of birthing, beginning with the early days of our country when almost everyone knew of mothers or babies who died in childbirth. As medicine advanced, maternal and infant mortality rates dropped radically. Hospitals were soon promoted as the safe, modern way to have a baby. By the 1950s, women were giving birth while completely knocked out, while doctors delivered their babies with forceps. With the '60s and the rise of the women's movement, women began to question this practice. Today, many traditional hospitals and physicians are rethinking their policies, midwives are making a slow but steady comeback, birthing centers are opening and people are finding out that there's more than one way to give birth in America.
The film profiles three caregivers: Joanne, an obstetrician working at a Philadelphia teaching hospital; Heike, a licensed midwife attending home births in Seattle; and Jennifer, a certified nurse-midwife who strives to bring the best of both traditions to a birthing center in the Bronx. Immediate and intimate, BORN IN THE U.S.A. captures the candid reflections of a variety of mothers, doctors and midwives, providing viewers with a fascinating inside look into the world of birthing in America.
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