Great news... Ricki Lake has produced a new film called The Business of Being Born. I'm hoping this new documentary is as BOLD as its title! It will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival ( http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/) in New York City at the end of this month. Here's a summary:
"In this candid and eye-opening documentary, director Abby Epstein and producer Ricki Lake explore and question the way American women have babies. Shocking facts (to men and women alike) regarding the historical and current practices of the child birthing industry interweave with stories of couples who decide to give birth on their own terms."
Birth is a business? This may sound shocking, but anyone who works in maternity care with a mission to put mothers at the center of their birth experiences know the alarming truth is that mothers are routinely subjected to routine medical interventions and dispassionate care because their births don't fit into a medical "business" model. Your birth is more that 24 hours? Sorry, that's not acceptable in the "business" model that hospitals operate under. This makes it virtually impossible for women today to enter a hospital and have an unmedicated birth unless they arrive at the hospital late in dialation and have a quick labor. Outside of this kind of birth, in America today you face a battery of interventions thrown at you all because the hospital is following a business model of care.
I can't wait to see The Business of Being Born and tell you what I think! If it's as BOLD as I hope it's going to be the movement to make birth mother-friendly has just gained some much-needed momentum. Stay tuned!
The screening schedule is as follows:
Sunday, April 29, 7:00 pm Clearview Chelsea West (CCW)
333 W. 23rd Street (between 8 th and 9 th Avenues.)
Monday, April 30, 6:30 pm, AMC Kips Bay (AKB)
570 Second Avenue (at 32nd St.)
Thursday, May 3, 9:45 pm, AMC Kips Bay (AKB)
570 Second Avenue (at 32nd St.)
Friday, May 4, 5:00 pm, AMC Village VII (AV7)
66 Third Avenue (at 11th St.)(come to this screening...it's a fundraiser for a new birth center in New York City scheduled to open in 2010! Call 212.867.9646 for tickets)
