Research paper: Pregnancy, Birth and the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States

 Pregnancy, Birth and the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States

ABSTRACT

How quickly and in what ways are the US maternity care practices changing due to the COVID-19 pandemic? Our data indicate that partners and doulas are being excluded from birthing rooms leaving mothers unsupported, while providers face a lack of protective equipment and unclear guidelines. We investigate rapidly shifting protocols for in- and out-of-hospital births and the decision-making behind them. We ask, will COVID-19 cause women, families, and providers to look at birthing in a different light? And will this pandemic offer a testing ground for future policy changes to generate effective maternity care amidst pandemics and other types of disasters


Methods

Between March 27 and April 11, 2020, we queried via e-mail members of the listservs of the Council on Anthropology and Reproduction, REPRONETWORK, and multiple birth practitioners, including midwives, doulas, and obstetricians. We received 41 responses to the following questions:

  • Are pregnant women expressing high degrees of anxiety and fear about COVID-19 and the possibility of contagion in hospitals or during prenatal visits?

  • If pregnant women are becoming frightened of hospital-based care, is that fear starting to outweigh their fear of out-of-hospital birth?

  • Are you seeing an increase in home birth and birth in free-standing birth centers? In “freebirths” (unattended home births)?

  • How have you changed your practices – in-hospital or out – in response to COVID-19?

  • Are doulas and/or partners being excluded from the birthing room in your area?

  • If so, how is that affecting laboring women/people?

  • How has the process of home birth transfers to hospitals changed in your areas, if at all?

  • Are your local hospitals becoming more supportive of out-of-hospital birth, or are they more adamant than ever that birth should take place in the hospital? If so, what forms does that opposition – or that support––take?

Reference:

Robbie Davis-Floyd, Kim Gutschow & David A Schwartz (2020) Pregnancy, Birth and the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States, Medical Anthropology, 39:5, 413-427, DOI: 10.1080/01459740.2020.1761804


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