Birth Control

A shocking, revelatory account of the dangerous misogyny that permeates pregnancy, birth, and early motherhood in America Why are women more likely to die from pregnancy and birth in America than in any other developed nation? Why do more than a third of birthing people describe their experiences as traumatic? In Birth Control, award-winning journalist Allison Yarrow reveals the grim answer: sexism. Modern medicine should make childbirth safer for all, but that's not what Yarrow found over years of in-depth reporting. Starting in the nineteenth century and continuing to this day, women have been steamrolled by a male-dominated medical establishment that has convinced itself, and most everyone, that pregnancy is a crisis only it can "solve." Drawing on extensive reporting, research, expert interviews, original survey data, and personal narrative, Yarrow reveals how misogyny shapes every aspect of pregnancy and childbirth. She then shows a better way, probing both cutting-edge and age-old solutions that restore control of birth to birthing people. Full of surprising insights and heartfelt emotion, Birth Control is an explosive call to action.