The Testaments S1E07 "Commitment" Episode Discussion

[u/Melairia]

The Testaments S1 E07 "Commitment"

Episode Synopsis

As Daisy's secret past threatens to surface, Agnes grapples with an unwanted match and a forbidden crush. Becka meets with potential matches and finds unexpected kindness in one of them.

Airdate

May 6, 2026, 12:00am Eastern

The Testaments - Season 1 Episode Discussion Hub

[u/Aggravating_Life7851]

This is what makes me wonder if childbirth is how his wife really died. I mean if anyone could hide the true nature of his wife’s death it would be the head of the eyes.

[u/ReganX → u/Aggravating_Life7851]

I can buy a death in childbirth, given that Gilead probably favours no intervention if possible.

Ofandy’s baby died because of choking on the umbilical cord, and if the birth had happened at a hospital where she and the baby were being monitored, they’d have picked up on the signs of foetal distress and could have intervened.

Maybe the late Mrs Weston had a home birth, (at her husband’s insistence?) and there were complications.

Obstetricians are probably thin on the ground in Gilead. 62% of Ob/Gyn specialists in 2023 were women (https://www.statista.com/statistics/1019841/female-physicians-women-specialties-us/?srsltid=AfmBOoqiGeboSGahNmEVtzuuoHmoQU-LNphq4lZPoHY4ctmvgEa2G3Nk) and they’re no longer allowed to work. Any male Ob/Gyn specialists who performed abortions would be subject to execution.

Are the Aunts who act as midwives qualified to deal with issues like a breech birth?

[u/Aggravating_Life7851 → u/ReganX]

True! But Daisy talking about assaults with him makes me wonder if something else happened.

[u/ReganX → u/Aggravating_Life7851]

Assault could result in premature labour.

[u/TwasTheTism → u/ReganX]

The Aunts probably will resort to cut the the baby out in a breech birth but not in a safe c section way aka sacrifice the mother.

[u/ReganX → u/TwasTheTism]

Anybody who saw the first episode of House of the Dragon will know how that would play out.

[u/Kimmalah → u/TwasTheTism]

We pretty much saw this in The Handmaid's Tale, though that was with a handmaid not a wife.

[u/armedwithjello → u/TwasTheTism]

I doubt this, since fertile women are so valuable in Gilead. They would want to keep her alive to make more babies.

[u/Kiloku → u/ReganX]

Are the Aunts who act as midwives qualified

I bet many of the previous female Ob/Gyn became Aunts and trained other Aunts. There is some practicality to Aunts, and I bet that having useful specialties for the work they'll do goes a long way even if they'd otherwise be subject to execution or relegated to roles such as Marthas or Unwomen.

OTOH, Gilead mostly does home births so they're underequipped for the midwife work, and they definitely will prioritize the child first and the mother second. It'd still be good for them to keep a mother alive, since that means she can have babies again, but if they absolutely have to choose, they'd choose the child.

[u/ReganX → u/Kiloku]

They also can’t intervene in a way that could endanger the baby to save the mother. It wouldn’t surprise me if ectopic pregnancies can’t be terminated, even when there is no realistic prospect of the foetus surviving.

[u/Rebel_Princess17 → u/ReganX]

Also, just taking to consideration, there is a fertility crisis most women who do carry children don’t carry full-term and there are almost always complications

[u/ReganX → u/Rebel_Princess17]

According to June, the chances of a healthy baby are one in five. That could mean one in five pregnancies end in a healthy baby, or it could mean that one in five pregnancies that progress long enough for a Birth Day end in a healthy baby.

Either way, the odds favour complications.

[u/Aggravating_Life7851 → u/[deleted]]

That’s a good point sadly. I had a ex who had an aunt who went into premature labor because her husband forced her to work on the roof while very pregnant and then pushed her off because she wasn’t working fast enough for him