Giving Birth: A Celebration of Life or a Surgical Event?

Martha Llanos Zuloaga

by Martha Llanos Zuloaga – GTW Perú

I have just returned from the UN Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. One session that was very significant for me was the one with the presence of Indigenous midwives from Latin America. Each representative shared her testimony about the current situation; of special interest were Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and others. The Continental Alliance of Traditional and Indigenous Midwives of the Americas bring together midwives, birth companions, and guardians of knowledge from Indigenous peoples across the continent to defend and strengthen traditional midwifery as a unique, living, and autonomous health system.

Indigenous midwives are guardians of life, birth, and territory—bearers of knowledge that existed before nation‑states and continues to sustain the lives of their peoples. Their practice is not complementary, but an integral system of knowledge, science, and spirituality based on self‑determination.

The Declaration that will be presented at the Permanent Forum affirms that birth is not only a medical act, but also a spiritual, territorial, and political act.

In the 1970s, I met and shared experiences with Indigenous communities in the Peruvian highlands and rainforest. In the rainforest communities, when childbirth approaches, friends and family accompany the woman in labor to the river. There, standing with her legs firmly planted on the ground and bathed by the cool water, the new human being arrives in the world—refreshed by the waters and by the songs of a loving community welcoming them!

If you are born in the highlands, like our ancestors, the birthing tradition remains vertical, with feet on the ground and squatting. I observed that a tall log is placed in front of the woman in labor so she can hold on tightly. And so, with her family, and especially her husband, the child arrives into the world.

The place given to placentas in these communities is very important; they are considered living beings. Therefore, they should not be left behind or thrown away but buried in a special place—under the bed or in the forest.

After the 1990s, I lived for a long time in Asia, and in India I witnessed the most beautiful births, in the land of Ayurvedic philosophy and medicine. Ayurveda, over five thousand years old, offers not only health, but also joy, well‑being, serenity, and secrets of eternal youth. For Ayurveda, life is the most wondrous event that nature has created, and woman is its main protagonist. Since it is a unique and unrepeatable moment, the couple prepares and, depending on their financial means, may even have a doula or a friend to assist them during pregnancy and childbirth. The most beautiful moment is the babies’ arrival, as they are massaged with rose or jasmine oils and welcomed with loving celebration.

If we put ourselves in the children’s place in the so‑called “developed” countries, for nine months they moved peacefully in a paradise of water and silence, feeling protected, loved, and able—like dolphins—to express themselves freely in that space. Their state was brimming with possibilities, their needs met by that liquid, timeless, maternal, and boundless world.

Let us visualize the birth scene… The child feels that the time has come to leave and look toward new horizons. He or she prepares for the entrance into the world. How curious—what will be there? What awaits them at the end of the tunnel? They are in a hospital room or an operating room. And oh… bright lights appear. The arrival almost blinds them. Hands take the newborn and—wham!—the flow connected to the warm water is gone. They are lifted by the feet and slapped on the bottom, which makes the newborn cry.

The result: a frightening welcome. Where have I ended up, surrounded by masked figures? After the initial shock, soft skin appears, a gentle energy, and the newborn finds the mother there—sometimes the father—who joins in welcoming. This scene seems to reflect the first fears and feelings of abandonment that take root in our subconscious.

Corollary

In line with my life’s mission, I work for the rights of human beings to celebrate life, the biocentric principle, and bioethics. One of the first rights of a child should be to have a birth that is a celebration of their arrival into the world. How wise were the so‑called primitive cultures, where birth is a natural event; the child is bathed, sung to, caressed with oils, and all of nature joins in the celebration. Reflect on this in our developed world, where birth is a surgical procedure.

So much knowledge and wisdom exist in this welcoming to the world. However, strong medical approaches are still prioritized over the sacred act of bringing a child into this world. Lots of praise to the wisdom and loving approach of the traditional midwives.

So I ask: what memories do you hold of your own birth?