When you destroy midwives, you also destroy a body of knowledge that is shared by women, that can’t be put together by a bunch of surgeons or a bunch of male obstetricians, because physiologically, birth doesn’t happen the same way… — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
It would be a mistake, though, to consider care by family doctors or midwives inferior to that offered by obstetricians simply on the grounds that obstetricians need not refer care to a family physician or midwife if no complications develop… — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
The way a culture treats women in birth is a good indicator of how well women and their contributions to society are valued and… — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
“The techno-medical model of maternity care, unlike the midwifery model, is comparatively new on the world scene, having existed for barely two centuries. This… — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
The best a health care system can do is to equip itself to meet the needs of each individual woman and birth. Those needs… — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
Why do we, then, continue to treat women as if their emotions and comfort, and the postures they might want to assume while in… — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
I had to learn not to let anyone push me around, to be brave and to say things I knew might make people mad. — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
When we as a society begin to value mothers as the givers and supporters of life, then we will see social change in ways… — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
“I have felt incredible energy and life force through my body, and I have really been reborn a happier, healthier, and more confident person.… — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
“Remember this, for it is as true and true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is… — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
Simply put, when there is no home birth in a society, or when home birth is driven completely underground, essential knowledge of women’s capacities… — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
A society that places a low value on its mothers and the process of birth will suffer an array of negative repercussions for doing… — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
I know of no country in the world that has passed a law specifically denying a woman's right to choose where she intends to… — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
“Many midwives work as employees in large hospital practices, where the techno-medical model of care is still the rule. In practices like these, midwives… — Ina May Gaskin Copy Share Image
