There are a variety of reasons that women speak out after giving birth. Often traumatic or belittling experiences lead them to become vocal about what needs to improve for mothers in the future or else to find solutions for themselves. 
 Unfortunately, women who share their alternative viewpoints are too often labeled and stigmatized. On this episode of It Starts at Birth, Mark and Faith discuss the perspective from major health organizations around the world and concerning statistics in the U.S. which support the importance of the message these women are bold enough to share.

Links to reports and articles referenced in this episode:

PMC - Trends and State Variations in Out-of-Hospital Births in the United States, 2004-2017

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6642827/

CDC - First Data Released on Maternal Mortality in Over a Decade

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2020/202001_MMR.htm

American Action Forum - Maternal Mortality in the United States

https://www.americanactionforum.org/insight/maternal-mortality-in-the-united-states/

Maternal Health Task Force - Maternal Health in the United States

https://www.mhtf.org/topics/maternal-health-in-the-united-states/

AIHW - Maternal deaths in Australia

https://knoema.com/atlas/United-Kingdom/Maternal-mortality-ratio

KNOEMA - United Kingdom - Maternal mortality ratio

https://knoema.com/atlas/United-Kingdom/Maternal-mortality-ratio

The World Health Organization - The case for midwifery

https://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/topics/quality-of-care/midwifery/case-for-midwifery/en/

Global Health Workforce Alliance - Midwife-led care delivers positive pregnancy and birth outcomes

https://www.who.int/workforcealliance/media/news/2013/midwifecochrane/en/