The United States has the second worst newborn death rate in the developed world and one of the highest maternal mortality rates among all industrialized countries. Midwives attend over 70% of births in Europe and Japan, but that figure totals less than 8% in the US. Yet, the US spends twice as much per birth as any other country.

Ricki Lake’s documentary, The Business of Being Born, begins with these statistics and progresses through a reasoned argument for educated mothers and informed birth decisions. The filmmakers exhibit restraint and avoid placing the blame on anyone - the problem is too little education and cost cutting, they suggest – and instead focus on providing information through statistics, interviews with medical professionals, and real-life stories. The film is unrated, but there’s plenty of (non-sexual) nudity, distressed women in labor swearing like sailors, and footage of live births – probably not for the squeamish.

Filmmakers acknowledge throughout the film the possible need for hospital care and medical intervention in high-risk pregnancy. In fact, the film’s director, Abby Epstein, became pregnant shortly after taking on the project. The end of the film chronicles her own birth story, in which she and her midwife quickly decide she must deliver her baby in the hospital due to somewhat premature labor and the breech position.

There is certainly a clear pro-home birth stance taken here, and that’s a contentious position to take. But by featuring interviews with natural and home birth advocates as well as a host of (presumably) less biased sources – several obstetricians, NYU faculty, and the former director of women’s and children’s health for the World Heath Organization – The Business of Being Born emerges with a clear, cogent case for unmedicated, natural births that for the most part avoids hyperbole and scare tactics, and presents information that anyone planning to have a baby in the United States should at least consider in making an informed birthing choice.