Review

The birth of free will

WHO’S HAVING YOUR BABY? A HEALTH RIGHTS HANDBOOK FOR MATERNITY CARE
Beverly Lawrence Beech
Bedford Square Press (2nd Edition), 1991

The issue of ‘choice’ in health care and the rights of users of health services to get the treatment and care they want is exemplified in the long-running battle over who controls childbirth. In no other aspect of health care have the disagreements between users and professionals - and indeed, between professionals themselves - been so intense.

When ante-natal screening is no more than the search for medical pathologies and obstetric interventions in childbirth so common that they are seen as part of a ‘natural’ birth, what rights do women have to decide what sort of birth they want? How do they know what choices are available to them, or find out about the potential benefits or risks of routine investigations and interventions? The answers lie in this book.

Who’s Having Your Baby? starts from a belief in women’s right to choose and provides clear and factual information about the rights and choices that exist, as well as offering practical advice on how to make sure you get what you choose. From describing the different roles of the main professionals to the different approaches to birthing, including how to get a home birth, the issues are presented in a forthright and concise style.

As Beech makes clear, many of the technologies used in ante-natal care and in the birthing process have never been fully evaluated. Many are at best unproven, at worst potentially harmful. This book gives women the basis on which to make informed decisions about these procedures. There is also useful advice on maternity benefits and post-natal care as well as a list of contacts for further information and advice.

Yet knowing your rights is one thing, but actually getting them quite another. The reader would be forgiven for thinking that obtaining the treatment and care she wants is a full time occupation. While obstetric orthodoxy continues to insist on hospital births and routine investigations, the battle will continue. For women who want to decide what is right for them, this book will provide essential ammunition. Yet it is still a battle many women will not feel able to engage in.

I still think that users of health services need assertiveness training rather than charters - and providers of services should be made to read books such as this.