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The Effects Of Childbirth On The Health Of The Baby

Decent Essays

Giving birth in the hospital has become so normal in our lives that we can’t see any other alternative when thinking about childbirth. Due to the medicalization of childbirth, risks and fears of health complications can be addressed. However, it has led to women not truly being in control of their labor and delivery experience. Although the medical practice comes in handy when there is an emergency, the medicalization of childbirth has created a social reality that simply state that women are not in control of their own labor and delivery. The outcomes of the medicalization of childbirth have good influences on the health of the baby, but a negative effect on the women’s agency power and empowerment. It is important to understand the process of medicalization and how childbirth has undergone that process. According to Riessman in the medicalization article, he defined medicalization as a process in which ‘medical practice becomes a vehicle for eliminating or controlling problematic experiences that are defined as deviant, for the purpose of securing adherence to social norms’ (Brubaker and Dillaway 2009). This meaning that medical intervention becomes an instrumental tool to control what is seen as deviant experiences with the intention of creating a norm for society. The professionalization of medicine and science shows a history of efforts in attempting to control populations and solve what was thought to be social problems (Brubaker and Dillaway 2009). Therefore,

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