Why “God as Midwife” and not “God as OB?”
a little about me, history, and liberation theology
I’m so glad you asked. There are a few reasons, but I want to say upfront that obstetrics is a crucial life-saving profession. My youngest baby decided to turn herself breech at FORTY-ONE WEEKS (the nerve) and she was not born into a midwife’s hands per my best laid plans, but delivered through an obstetrician’s incision. Many, many babies and women would be dead without OBs, and many, many DO die without access to emergency obstetric care, especially in the developing world.
And yet, God as OB is not my brand metaphor. But it’s not because OBs aren’t hugely important. I’m not out here pushing God as attorney or chef or 5th grade teacher either—all important professions as well. So why then?
You’ve gotta dance with the one who brung you. Midwifery is a big part of my identity in a way that obstetrics is not. I fell in love with the midwifery care model when I was in college. I spent untold hours advocating for legal midwives at my state Capital. As a nurse I apprenticed and worked with midwives, I went to their retreats and conferences, I became a doula and lactation consultant: they were my people. When I got married my friends decorated our car and the bumper read, SUPPORT MIDWIVES, MAKE LOVE. I’m a big midwifery nerd, okay?
Placentas are THE COOLEST! Photo by João Paulo de Souza Oliveira on Unsplash Model of care matters. In the interest of word count I’m going to generalize: obstetricians intervene in the birth process while midwives largely rely on supportive presence. My theological schtick is not that God intervenes when we need rescuing—that’s evangelical Christianity’s message. To the contrary, my message is that God sticks with us while we labor through hard things and ultimately deliver ourselves. Also? Life is not like an epidural; it’s like an unmedicated childbirth (generally the realm of midwives). An obstetrician’s approach doesn’t jive with my brand.
History matters. Policing descended from slave patrols, and obstetrics descended from appropriation and gendered, radicalized violence. Gynecology developed through performing surgeries on enslaved women without their consent and without anesthesia. Obstetricians (white men) usurped the birthing business from midwives (Black, indigenous, and immigrant women) through a brutal smear campaign that ignored the pesky fact that midwives had superior outcomes. I try to avoid taking an individualistic view of things (I had enough of that in evangelicalism, phew). So while there are scores of perfectly lovely individuals who are police officers and OBs, the SYSTEMS are malignant (and not only in the past—still to this day. Btw the US has the WORST maternal mortality rate in the developed world, and most of our deaths are BIPOC).
Theology matters. In the spirit of James Cone, Gustavo Gutiérrez, Delores Williams, and others, I will die on the hill that God stands in solidarity with the oppressed, not the oppressor. When I was evangelical I thought we (white upper middle class people) could just align with Israel in the biblical narrative. Why not? Who wouldn’t want to be Gods chosen people? But responsible theology takes history into account, and white people have never been the heroes; we’ve been the villains. According to the Incarnation God embodied a vulnerable infant with refugee parents fleeing violence in their occupied homeland. THAT MATTERS. So because I’m committed to the image of God as revealed in Christ, I can get on board with God the immigrant. God the enslaved. God the child. God the disabled. God the queer Black woman. God the midwife. But I cannot get on board with God the cop or God the OB. Being Love itself, God loves all and Her image is reflected in all, but Hers is an upside-down kingdom (or kin-dom) in which the last will be first.
Photo by Hanna Zhyhar on Unsplash Wait a minute, Halley, you said you respect OBs and their skills. I do respect OBs; I wouldn’t have surrendered my body to one if I didn’t! But what’s good and right and necessary about obstetrics must be named alongside its ugly history and the Black maternal health crisis we have today.
I hope my personal, historical, and theological reasons makes sense. Let me know in the comments what this stirs up for you.
