The vast majority of babies in the United States are born in a hospital, but the number of planned home births has increased significantly in recent years. This growing trend is driven by pregnant women’s desire to have their voices heard. But that doesn’t mean that home births are available to everyone.
Regaining control
Compared to the number of hospital births in the United States, home births are still relatively low. Nevertheless, the rate of planned home births has increased over the past seven years increased by 60% to nearly 2% of all births. The number of home births reached 46,918 in 2023, the highest in three decades, and up from 29,592 in 2016, according to a recent analysis published in the Journal of Perinatal Medicine.
The trend “positions the United States as a leading industrialized country in terms of the frequency of home births,” the authors of the analysis said. While the number of home births is increasing in general, black Americans have seen the largest increase. Between 2019 and 2020, the number of black women who had home births increased by 36%, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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The analysts concluded that much of the increase “is due to women’s desire to regain control over their births,” said National GeographicOthers want to avoid unnecessary medical interventions or cesarean sections, according to the study in the Journal of Perinatal Medicine. The Covid-19 pandemic has also “increased fear of diseases that can be caught in the hospital,” added National Geographic. For black women in particular, a home birth could be a welcome alternative in a country where they are three times more likely to die in childbirth than white women.
For many, the fear of abuse by medical personnel outweighs the concern about the risks of giving birth outside of a hospital. The CDC found that abuse during childbirth is so common that about 20% of women reported experiencing this. Looking at the data from a racial perspective, an even bleaker picture emerges. About 30% of black, Hispanic, and multiracial women reported feeling disrespected during maternity care, such as being verbally abused, yelled at, or having their requests for help ignored, compared to 19% of white women who experienced the same treatment.
Some Black women who give birth at home seek out a Black midwife or doula for more comfort, says Laurel Gourrier, a doula and co-host of the podcast. Birth stories in colorhe told National Geographic. The leadership in their birth planning is “strengthened by a support team that has similar life experience, in a space designed and managed by them,” Gourrier said.
An expensive hurdle for home birth
Home births may be more popular, but cost can be a barrier depending on the state and the mother’s health insurance. On average, home births can cost about $4,650, according to one study. studybut the price varies and can be much higher. Some insurers cover part of the cost of a home birth, but many do not Midwives in their networkMedicaid covers 40% of births nationwide, but only about half of the states.
A home birth was “fun, a little messy, euphoric and hard,” new mother Asia Dessert told National Geographic. She was able to have her $7,000 home birth with the help of a nonprofit called The Victoria ProjectAnd while she hopes to inspire her friends to do the same, “home birth is out of reach for most people I know because it’s too expensive.”
In a Northwest Iowa At a birth center where demand for services has surged, most women seeking home births are “white, insured and well-informed,” said Kari Ney, a certified nurse practitioner and member of the midwifery care team at Promise Community Health Center in Sioux Center. A home birth would be preferable for many of her Spanish-speaking and Latino patients, but many of them are insured through Medicaid, which does not cover home births in that state. “Even at our lowest nominal fee of about $500, that’s still a barrier,” Ney said. The services are too expensive for the uninsured, so “the majority of our clients are insured.”
