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The Agreements Concern Childbirth And Childrearing

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Two of The Agreements concern childbirth and childrearing. The first says “ We believe that marriage, childbirth and death are sacraments of our church.” The next says “We agree that child rearing and care of the elderly is a holy responsibility” (CITE). These describe the Farm’s commitment to midwifery as a spiritual and important practice for both members and non-members. These women are skilled in delivering children in a more traditional way with minimal medical intervention. The practice of midwifery is important to the Farm’s success because it effectively allows members of the Farm to interact and communicate with non-members and share the message of the Farm with others. The reputation of the Farm’s midwives as childbirth experts gives the Farm a credibility as it interacts with the larger society around it.
The founder and director of The Farm Midwifery Center is Ina May Gaskin, who is married to Stephen. She, like all the Farm midwives, is a Certified Professional Midwife. This credential is interesting because it is focused on practitioners who provide out-of-hospital births, focusing on providing “traditional, natural, non- interventive births with good outcomes and state-of-the-art professional skills” (CITE). This certification nicely captures the mission of the Farm midwives, who strive to practice midwifery as it was practiced for generations before the medicalization of childbirth.
The need for midwives emerged during the Caravan trip across the

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