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<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>BtotheG</strong> <a href="/community/forum/thread/1284806/dh-wants-to-read-studies-books-that-are-anit-hb#post_16109314"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a><br><br><br><br><div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>nilatti</strong> <a href="/community/forum/thread/1284806/dh-wants-to-read-studies-books-that-are-anit-hb#post_16109196"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a><br><br><br><br><div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>mdnaturalmama</strong> <a href="/community/forum/thread/1284806/dh-wants-to-read-studies-books-that-are-anit-hb#post_16108628"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a><br><br><p>He actually isn't fully against HB. He just wants to make sure he has a fair and balanced look at things. I explained to him that the books that are "pro HB" are really telling the truth. He equates it to getting news from different sources so as to try and make sure you're not biased. I too asked him why he'd want to read stuff that would just wind up making him more against it but....sigh. I think it's an exercise in futility.</p>
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<p>So, here's your problem. Not your problem. Society's problem. We're all poorly educated about statistics and the scientific method, and then our bipolar media have conditioned us to think that there are always two equally valid sides to every argument. Now, if, for example, The Thinking Woman's Guide had cherry-picked the studies it reviews, only including pro-HB ones, that would be one thing. But Goer is a science journalist, and she looked at practically every study available at that time. She didn't find any that proved HB unsafe, and lots that showed that hospital births have a high probability of intervention.</p>
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<p>ACOG doesn't like HB for largely monetary reasons. They do NOT have controlled, scientific studies to back up their position. Just look into their footnotes. The few studies they cite as indicating that HB isn't safe included non-attended and unplanned HBs, as well as women who were very high-risk (not VBAC high-risk, they had complications with the current pregnancy, like gestational diabetes). Assuming you're not planning a freebirth, those studies don't apply. Try to find any study that shows that an attended, planned HB for a low-risk pregnancy is less safe than a hospital birth for *someone with the same set of conditions*-- you can't. It's like trying to find a study that proves that drunk driving is safer than sober driving, or that the earth takes 30 hours to turn on its axis rather than 24. Science doesn't have sides. It's not opinion. Science's job is to say: "Here are the facts. Now what are you going to do about it?"</p>
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<p>This. Completely.</p>
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<p>Your DH might benefit from an explanation of the term "bias." Bias is making up your mind before you have any facts or evidence. It does *not* mean reaching a conclusion after careful review of the facts. So, for instance, the ACOG is biased against homebirth because it takes business away from them. They do not have any facts or evidence to support their view, and they routinely dismiss or ignore the facts or evidence that show homebirth is safe. That is bias.</p>
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<p>Henci Goer, though she comes to the conclusion that homebirth is safe and beneficial, is *not* biased. She came to her conclusion through careful analysis of the available facts and evidence. Just because all available data overwhelmingly support one conclusion over another, it does not make it a bias. Taking a close look at that data and concluding "yes, homebirth is safe," or "wow, drunk driving is dangerous," or "why, yes, the sun is the center of the solar system, not the earth," does not mean you just formed a bias. It means you are sane and rational.</p>
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<p>I agree with what Nilatti posted - the media have conditioned us to think that everything is just a matter of opinion, and that there are "sides" to everything. That's not the case with facts. There is what's supported by evidence, and there's...everything else. And I'll reiterate, just because an issue is overwhelmingly supported by facts - that doesn't make it biased.</p>
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<p>What a weird world where the position that has the most evidence supporting it is the one that becomes most suspect.<br>
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nilatti and BtotheG, EXACTLY. </p>