The seized birthing tubs have now theoretically been returned to their owners, but this fight is far from over. Barbara Harper, author of Gentle Birth Choices and founder of Waterbirth International, outlined the situation to me this morning.
Is this birth tub a piece of medical equipment? Photo by BirtherSage
Two of the four major U.S. distributors of birth tubs have recently received warning letters from the FDA, thus halting their sales and shipments. A shipping container of birth tubs was temporarily held at U.S. Customs in Portland, OR earlier this week, and underwent FDA inspection before being released to the distributors.
But Barbara says the FDA made it clear that even though the distributors were allowed to take their shipments to their own warehouses, the FDA is still in control of the property. She says their attitude was, ‘We own it. You can’t sell it, you can’t ship it.’ They came in, inspected and counted the birth tubs, and left with a ‘We’ll be back.’
An Attack on Birth Choices?
The public response to this story seems to have been either along the lines of ‘This is one more battle in the government’s war on water birth and birth choices in general,’ or ‘The FDA is just doing their jobs trying to protect birthing women from harm.’ Perhaps the reality is somewhere in the middle.
“If there is an effort to take away water birth,” Barbara explains, “We have to enlist the hospital midwives and obstetricians. It’s not just about home birth,” since many hospitals are allowing water births these days, with some even using portable, inflatable birthing tubs such as the ones seized in this FDA fiasco.
If this situation truly turns out to be about eliminating water birth as a choice for pregnant women, Barbara adds, “How long do you think it’s going to be before they put yellow caution tape on every hospital bathtub?” Continue reading
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