GALVESTON, Texas - The Institute for the Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is co-sponsoring a sneak preview of "The Business of Being Born" with the Bay Area Birth Center. The documentary film will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at Levin Hall South Auditorium, 11th and Market streets. The performance is free and open to the public.
Executive producer Ricki Lake approached filmmaker Abby Epstein to direct a film that would examine birth culture in America and ask questions about the way American women have babies. The result is a film interlaced with intimate birth stories and historical, political and scientific statistics about the current maternity care system.
The film's fundamental question: Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potential medical emergency?
Cheryl Vaiani, IMH associate professor, will facilitate a panel discussion following the 87-minute film, providing perspectives from midwifery and law.
For more information on the screening, call (409) 772-5837. To learn more about the film, visit http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/.