Comment by Sanzig

The home birth obsession makes me so angry. My wife had a really bad postpartum hemorrhage when our daughter was born. Thankfully, we were in the hospital, so the obstetrics team was able to stop the bleeding and get her stabilized. She'd have likely died if it was a home birth.

What's even crazier is that in most of the US, midwives only need a high school diploma and a midwifery certificate - or in many states, no education is required at all as the title "midwife" is not protected. The vast majority of the rest of the developed world requires midwives to either be professional nurses with additional training in midwifery, or to have a special four year midwifery degree (eg: here in Canada, midwifery is a bachelor's degree). Many parents in the US who opt for a home birth are likely unaware of how underqualified many American midwives are compared to their international counterparts to respond to an obstetric emergency.