“In Pain You Shall Bring Forth Children…” – Theorizing Labor Pain and Analgesia
Amy DeBaets, PhD, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine
Prior to the advent of anesthesia and analgesia, childbirth was both painful and life- threatening, a leading cause of death among young women. Once safe surgical delivery was developed, death rates dropped dramatically over the course of a century. The use of analgesia, however, was and remains controversial in the birth process. While approximately 85% of vaginal deliveries in the United States utilize some form of chemical pain control, 15% do not, and there is a presumption among communities promoting “natural” birth that such pain control should not be needed or used by women giving birth.
Labor is virtually the only point in contemporary human life in which people experience significant bodily pain and have a cultural expectation to decline readily available methods of chemical pain control. Women in labor are encouraged to use “natural” methods of pain control, such as those taught in the Lamaze and Bradley methods, and to eschew epidural or other analgesia. Many women find that labor pains are unbearable without analgesia, however, and some of them are made to feel like they have already “failed” as mothers for not undergoing labor without chemical pain control.
This presentation will analyze some of the many reasons why this expectation continues, why the pain (and sometimes suffering) of labor and childbirth is expected and normalized in ways that other forms of pain are not in contemporary Western culture. Some of this unusual expectation arises from deeply-rooted religious beliefs that the birth process should be painful, as part of a penalty for sin (Genesis 3:16). While it is certainly the case that many Christians and Jews reject this interpretation of the passage as normative, the cultural effects of that interpretation are more difficult to get rid of. This is compounded by a medical culture that takes the pain and suffering of women less seriously than that of men.
So what can be done to change a culture that expects women to suffer during birth? First, we can name the expectation in order to delegitimize it. Second, we can develop comprehensive birth education programs that address pain control stigma for pregnant patients. And third, we can provide spiritual care to women who feel guilt or shame regarding their need for pain control during labor in order to help alleviate the effects of the stigma.
Labor is virtually the only point in contemporary human life in which people experience significant bodily pain and have a cultural expectation to decline readily available methods of chemical pain control. Women in labor are encouraged to use “natural” methods of pain control, such as those taught in the Lamaze and Bradley methods, and to eschew epidural or other analgesia. Many women find that labor pains are unbearable without analgesia, however, and some of them are made to feel like they have already “failed” as mothers for not undergoing labor without chemical pain control.
This presentation will analyze some of the many reasons why this expectation continues, why the pain (and sometimes suffering) of labor and childbirth is expected and normalized in ways that other forms of pain are not in contemporary Western culture. Some of this unusual expectation arises from deeply-rooted religious beliefs that the birth process should be painful, as part of a penalty for sin (Genesis 3:16). While it is certainly the case that many Christians and Jews reject this interpretation of the passage as normative, the cultural effects of that interpretation are more difficult to get rid of. This is compounded by a medical culture that takes the pain and suffering of women less seriously than that of men.
So what can be done to change a culture that expects women to suffer during birth? First, we can name the expectation in order to delegitimize it. Second, we can develop comprehensive birth education programs that address pain control stigma for pregnant patients. And third, we can provide spiritual care to women who feel guilt or shame regarding their need for pain control during labor in order to help alleviate the effects of the stigma.