Are home births dangerous?
AMA says women should use a hospital; some doctors disagree The American Medical Association has agreed to support proposed legislation that, some physicians say, could make having a planned birth in one’s home difficult, to virtually impossible. As of now, no actual legislation has been drawn up, but the AMA has agreed to back a measure called “Resolution 205,” a request to support the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ (ACOG) position that home births are not safe. “We are against home births, period,” said Gregory Phillips, an ACOG spokesman. Women who give birth outside of a clinical setting risk putting themselves and their newborns at risk, Phillips told ABCNEWS.com. In an e-mail to ABCNEWS.com, AMA board member Steven Stack, MD, wrote that the AMA “stresses that the safest setting for delivering a baby is in the hospital or a birthing center within a hospital complex.” The influential medical groups, AMA and ACOG, now find themselves at odds with those who say
