Today’s Big Read is bigger than most. For the past few months, Kara Kennedy, a contributing writer at The Free Press, has spoken to dozens of women who have been involved with an organization called the Free Birth Society. What she found astonished us—and we suspect it will shock you, too. To support this kind of journalism, subscribe today. —The Editors
Part I: ‘Birth-work is death-work. Because birth is death.’
Angela Gallegos was deep in the throes of what would become a four-day labor, but she had no intention of going to the hospital. She was in a commune in the hills above Honolulu, Hawaii, where she had traveled in order to give birth. There were no ultrasounds and no doctors there, and as the labor intensified, Gallegos repeated the mantra that had been drilled into her.
“Everything is just a variation of normal,” she said. “That kept ringing in my head the entire time.”
Gallegos told me that she had learned this mantra from Emilee Saldaya and Yolande Norris-Clark, the creators of The Complete Guide to Freebirth, a popular course offered through the Free Birth Society, which is probably the most influential organization in America for “freebirthers.”
