Dear Ricki Lake,

You need to STOP! As an actress and talk show host you did an admirable job and I think your viewers appreciated your candid style. As a ‘self appointed birthing spokesperson’ you are misleading people left and right. What you are NOT is a health care professional. To your credit, the world liked you and grew to trust you when you were a TV personality; but to use this trust to lead people down a dangerous path is truly irresponsible. Your narrow and jaded view of birth is very likely to cause more harm than good.
In my view as a healthcare professional for more than twenty years, we have come a long way from the days when a home birth was the only option. The hospital environment of the 21st Century allows most women in our society to have a safe and healthy labor and delivery. Your assertion that hospitals and doctors do not have the best interest of moms and babies in mind is just flat out wrong. I know that there is nothing more empowering than knowledge for expectant parents – I have made a career out of helping to educate them as they prepare for the biggest event of their lives. I also know that plans go awry, things change, pain can be greater than expected, and complications happen. Being in a hospital with trained medical professionals can mean the difference between life and death.

And yes, you are right, the hospital lights are often too bright and hallways too hectic, and IV drips and fetal monitors can be cumbersome during labor. But that’s far less important to me than achieving the ultimate goal that these institutions support: healthy moms and healthy babies.