There’s a good piece in the Wilmington Star News this morning about home births in North Carolina and Senate Bill 106, which would make them easier. To quote just a couple key paragraphs:
In this day and age, shouldn’t mothers have a say in where and how they give birth, as long as patient safety is not sacrificed? In that respect, Goolsby’s proposal is overdue. Not only is a home setting more comforting and often less hectic than a hospital, but it is a lower-cost alternative. Some North Carolina counties lack obstetricians; midwives can fill the gap. Good health care can be delivered in places other than hospitals, as long as the attendant has sufficient medical training to know when an at-home birth is ill-advised. And if mothers-to-be know they have a safe alternative, the popularity of home births may continue to rise.
Just as some mothers-to-be insist on ample pain relief while others want to give birth without drugs, there is no “right” or “wrong” in the desire to give birth at home.