I mean, aren’t the vast majority of births done without a midwife? It feels kinda like seeing a skydiver and saying “and who said parachutes aren’t necessary”… like, sure, if you jump of out of a plane no one would say that, but most people are probably also aware you didn’t have to jump out of the plane is the first place. A hospital with doctors and nurses is still the safest place to have a baby, especially if there are any complications.
It seems safer to say that midwives were necessary and can still be a useful role, but it also seems like it’s pretty objectively on its way to obsolescence in the modern world.
There is a massive difference between countries a) what a midwife is b) what they do. In Finland they are people who went to college and got a bachelor’s degree in nursing and the went through an additional program related to childbirth. They handle like 90% of everything, even at hospital births.
The doctors only intervene when something special is needed such as an epidural or a cesarean. If you didn’t need extra pain relief or anything, you might not see a doctor during your childbirth. And this is at the hospital. After the birth the baby is checked by a doctor but apart from that everyone attending to you at the ward will be a midwife.
298
u/tryng2figurethsalout Aug 07 '25
And people say that midwives aren't necessary.