Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Jennifer Block, former editor at Ms. magazine and an editor of the revised "Our Bodies, Ourselves," will speak to students, faculty and community members at 7 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 4, on the campus of the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She will read from her book, "Pushed: The Painful Truth about Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care" in the Clock Tower Lounge of the Fisher Student Center and discuss the American birth experience—why it is far from optimal, how it came to be this way and what it means for women, families and society at large. A book sale and signing will follow her talk.

This event is sponsored by the UNCW Women's Resource Center and the North Carolina Friends of Midwives.

"Pushed" has been named a "Best Book of 2007" by Kirkus Reviews. It is a groundbreaking narrative investigation of childbirth in the age of machines, malpractice and managed care. Block investigates modern maternity care, a system in which few women have an optimal experience. With C-sections on the rise and the use of midwives not always an option, Block's work is a wake-up call for our times.

The North Carolina Friends of Midwives is a grassroots organization that is currently working to pass legislation that would license and regulate certified professional midwives in the state.

Media contact:
Dana Fischetti, media relations manager, 910.962.7259 or fischettid@uncw.edu

Critical Praise for "Pushed:"

"Were there ever any doubts as to the personal being political, this former editor at Ms. and editor of the revised Our Bodies, Ourselves convincingly lays them to rest in a gripping exposé of American obstetrics. With extensive field research and thorough historical contextualization, Block reveals some disturbing statistics in this country's birth management and shows how medical views of birth are as subject to change as the whims of fashion…A provocative and hotly controversial analysis of a side of reproductive rights feminism seems to have forgot."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Readers get objective analysis of informed consent, reproductive rights, and the rights of the fetus vs. the rights of the mother in this thought-provoking text."—Library Journal (Best Consumer Health Books of 2007)

"This provocative, highly readable expose raises questions of great consequence for anyone planning to have a baby in U.S., as well as those interested or involved in women's health care."—PublishersWeekly.com