In her speech on birth and the obstacles that arise in today’s society, Ina May Gaskin sums up her thoughts in this concluding paragraph.  She is the recipient of the 2011 Right Livelihood Award.

“Birth shouldn’t be thought of as money-making commodity or condition in which large institutions or governments control and dictate how women will give birth, ignoring individual mother’s wishes and needs. Inevitably, this too often puts bullies in charge of women’s bodies, something no other mammalian species allows. Some countries have midwives who are totally subordinate to physicians. In these countries, it’s typical for very harsh methods of birth care to be applied, and outcomes show this. It’s time to stop this sort of behavior. Traditional peoples, indigenous people don’t permit such behavior. We need to learn from them.”

For the entire speech, see HERE

To see more about Ina May Gaskin as recipient of Right Livelihood Award , see HERE.