This article focuses on how feminism informs women's birth choices in the U.S. Through twenty-five interviews with doulas (labor support people) and twenty-five interviews with mothers, I look at how feminism affects these women's views and approaches to birth. I found that birth is a feminist issue to most. Both groups described feminism in terms of “empowerment,” and saw doula support as a good way to regain power lost in the patriarchal system of medicine. Most interviewees took a neoliberal feminist approach to systemic issues, whereby participants championed hiring a private service (doula support) to supplement impersonal maternal health care. At this point, doula support remains restricted to women who can access it and afford it. The findings from this study suggest that feminism leads women to challenge male-centered obstetric medicine and seek out individual solutions (like hiring doulas) to systemic issues of patriarchy in contemporary maternity care.

本文主要关注女权主义如何影响美国女性的生育选择。通过对25名劳工进行的访谈和对母亲的25次访谈，我了解了女权主义如何影响这些女性的生育观念和方法。我发现出生对大多数人来说是女性主义问题。两组都用“赋予权力”来描述女权主义，并认为通过导乐支持重新获得在父权制医学体系中丧失的权力。大多数受访者对系统性问题采取了新自由主义的女权主义态度，参与者因此主张雇用私人服务机构（提供支持）以补充非人道的孕产妇保健。在这一点上，对导乐的支持仍然仅限于能够获得和负担得起的妇女。