Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Vivian Taormina/TaoMassage, Director/Producer
Vivian@taomassage.com
732 775 1550
boldnj.org

BOLD Movements Improve Childbirth Choices for Mothers.
With The New Jersey Premier Performance of The Play “Birth”
BOLD Challenges New Resolution Sponsored by American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

BOLD, the global movement to create childbirth choices that work for mothers, brings together artists, community groups and childbirth leaders. A BOLD performance event, “Birth”, brings childbirth choices for mothers center stage Friday & Saturday September 5, 6 at 7pm and Sunday September 7th at 2pm at the Middletown Cultural Arts Center, 36 Church Street, Middletown, NJ, 07748.

Using the theatre-for-social-change model, following each performance of “Birth” our BOLD TalkBack panel includes professionals from around the state from the medical to holistic communities for an open discussion about the birth crisis in America today.

“Birth” is a critically-acclaimed documentary-style play that tells the birth stories of eight women, painting an alarming picture of how low-risk, educated mothers are giving birth today. Hailed “The Vagina Monologues for birth” by women’s health expert Dr. Christiane Northrup, over 100 performances of the play “Birth” are happening in cities across America during September, the month of Labor Day, to raise awareness and money for childbirth choices that work for mothers. Proceeds from performances of “Birth” in Middletown will go to CIMS: The Coalition for Improving Infant and Maternity Services whose mission is to promote a wellness model of maternity care that will improve birth outcomes and substantially reduce costs. This evidence-based mother-, baby-, and family-friendly model focuses on prevention and wellness as the alternatives to high-cost screening, diagnosis, and treatment programs.

“Through BOLD we have seen how art can influence change. The time is now to be bold and make childbirth choices work for mothers, to create a movement that supports birth choices and helps women access the powerful experience available to them when giving birth,” stated BOLD founder, artistic director and playwright, Karen Brody.

A recent resolution sponsored by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and adopted by the American Medical Association has made it clear that now is the time to be BOLD. The resolution suggests home birth and “lay” midwives are not safe options for giving birth despite clear medical evidence to the contrary. BOLD challenges this assertion and believes resolutions like this significantly jeopardize the right every woman has to make the birth choice that works for her.

The largest, most respected study of home births from the British Journal of Medicine found that among 5,000 low-risk pregnancies, babies were delivered just as safely at home with a certified professional midwife as in a hospital. “This is a critical moment in childbirth today, one where we have found the institutions who are supposed to keep us healthy and safe have instead ignored the medical evidence,” stated Brody. “The evidence clearly states a hospital is not the only setting in which women can give birth safely. It’s critical this information is known by women, now more than ever. Keeping safe, low-intervention childbirth options from mothers is essentially robbing women of the opportunity to obtain a powerful birth experience.”

Tickets for “Birth” can be purchased online or call 1-800-838-3006.
$15 advance, $20 door sales.

To learn more about BOLD movements in New Jersey visit our website: www.boldnj.org.

ABOUT BOLD
BOLD is a global arts-based movement to create childbirth choices that work for mothers. Since BOLD’s founding in 2006, education about the issue of choices in childbirth - through watching the play Birth and the post-show talkback – has been at the heart of BOLD’s efforts.

To learn more about BOLD visit the national website: boldaction.org.

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