ICAN, and The Business of Being Born

By Anne Medley, 12-09-07

	Caption: The Business of Being Born, a documentary about birthing practices in the United States, drew approximately 100 people to the Roxy Theater in Missoula on Saturday night. Photos by Anne Medley.

Close to 100 people filled the Roxy Theater in Missoula on Saturday night for a benefit screening of The Business of Being Born, a documentary film produced by actress and former talk show host Ricki Lake and director Abby Epstein.

The inaugural event of the newly formed Missoula chapter of ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) aimed to raise awareness about the steady increase in cesarean births in the U.S. while demystifying the practice of home births and midwifery.

From alarming statistics on infant and maternal mortality rates in the United States to snapshots of the evolution of childbirth practices from the early 1900s through today, the film paints a picture of a medical system increasingly pushing women to doubt their body’s ability to give birth naturally.

Driven by a disappointing birth experience with her first child, executive producer Ricki Lake approached filmmaker Abby Epstein to explore and question the ways in which American women have babies. The end result juxtaposes intimate footage from a series of home births assisted by New York City Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM) Cara Muhlhahn with footage of more institutionalized birthing practices conducted in mainstream hospitals.

	A community member checks in for her ticket to the screening.

Ultimately, Lake unabashedly turns the camera on herself, documenting the birth of her second child in the bathtub of her New York City apartment. Epstein, who discovers during the course of making the film that she, too, is pregnant, uses the film’s platform to explore her own fears about having a home birth versus a traditional, in-hospital delivery.

Kimberly James, University of Montana music professor and chapter leader of ICAN in Missoula, organized Saturday’s screening and expressed satisfaction with the turnout. She admitted disappointment, however, that none of her university colleagues attended and that no one from the university’s Women’s Studies department returned her calls about the film.

	Certified Professional Midwives Deni Llovet, Sandhano Danison and Dolly Browder (left to right) answer audience questions. Missoula Doula Courtney Long (far right) mediates.

“I feel that university support has been surprisingly lacking,” she said.

About sixty people stayed after the film for a question and answer session with Missoula Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) Deni Llovet, Sandhano Danison and Dolly Browder. A predominantly female audience expressed concerns ranging from lack of insurance coverage for home births to a medical system increasingly driven by fear of legal prosecution.

Llovet mirrored their concerns. “You don’t get sued for doing a C-section,” she said.

	The newly formed Missoula chapter of ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) organized the one night only benefit screening.

Asked how women can have a good birth experience in the hospital, Llovet said, “It’s getting harder and harder. I think the staff in the hospital are less and less familiar with natural birth. If you want to have a good, natural birth experience in the hospital, get a good Doula.”

All three panel members echoed the film’s sentiments that American women, as a whole, have been taught to fear, rather than celebrate, the process of giving birth. As one woman in the film notes, “Women expect to have traumatic experiences. That’s why so many women have epidurals. They’re terrified.”

Browder agreed. “We as a culture have so much fear about birth, and until we get past that, nothing’s going to change.”

The Business of Being Born opens in theaters in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles in January 2008.

For more information about the Missoula chapter of ICAN, visit ICANofMissoula.terapad.com. [End of article]