The Politics of Birth

Like any human act, birth and all that goes before and after it exists only in the social context in which it takes place. In this much contested sphere of reproductive labour, birth can be the eye of the storm. Join Alana Apfel, author of Birth Work as Care Work (PM Press) and Marguerite Anne Williams, midwife & local Hackney mother to discuss the medicalisation of birth and the politics of control of the female body, and the movement of women reclaiming knowledge and collective control over our bodies.
“All we are doing in this world is living and dying, creating and destroying. We generate new life in our children and in our ideas. Becoming a birth supporter, getting to be an attendant to the miracle of childbirth, has transformed my social justice work. Our visions for justice are what we are birthing in this world. Learning to listen, learning to trust the body and the people, and learning to breathe will transform our movement work. Birth Work as Care Work demonstrates these lessons through showing us ways we can learn together to support the birth of new worlds.”
—Adrienne Brown, co-editor of Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements