Why objective, scientific research is worthless in the homebirth debate.

For the next several posts, I'll go into specific details with the back and forth my wife and I have gone over homebirth.  But for now, for those of you trying to convince someone on why your particular homebirth position is the one, true righteous way, forget data and research and all that fancy stuff.  This applies to people who can interpret research articles and who have no business reading research articles and get all their facts from USA Today or a blog. 

So why is data worthless in this debate?  I'll give you 3 reasons.

1) Research regarding homebirths is like accounting.  What the hell do I mean by that?  A finance professor once told us this joke:

- Q: If you ask an accountant what 1+ 1 is, what will he/she say?

- A: Whatever you want it to be.  

By this, I mean there is no 100%, perfect study.  People create research studies with the goal of promoting their cause.  Even an objective paper will have limitations.  It's not to say all research is worthless, but you have to look at these papers with a critical eye.  Which leads me to the second reason...

2) This is an EMOTIONAL debate.  People get very passionate about the cause.  Whether it's some midwife's blog attacking the hospital system or an OB railing against the homebirth movement.  Depending on what you believe in will color EVERYTHING you read about a homebirth. 

3) The homebirth message is a powerful, seductive message.  By that I mean, they take something as scary as pregnancy and labor (which is a scary thing- lots of things can go wrong with the mom and baby) and spin it in a positive way.

Go to a hospital?  We'll take care of the baby and you and will respect your wishes, but if something happens, we gotta move quick.  C-section, NICU, whatever to save you and the baby.  And let's face it, most people don't have positive experiences from the hospital.  Even people who lived because of hospital intervention still wouldn't say it was a fantastic time. 

Homebirths?  The message is one of empowerment, hope, and positivity.  You are in control.  You are in your home.  There are no medical interventions with side effects.  We can practice breathing, position changes, soak in a hot tub, get a massage.  These are all natural interventions that can help.  Now what would you rather have?  A C-section?  Or a massage in a hot tub sipping a iced tea?  Homebirth is about choice and freedom, not being locked into the system.  I kinda think Homebirthers see themselves as Neo (in the movie Matrix) and the hospital system as the Matrix, with the OB as Agent Smith.  

So for all these reasons, trying to use research and data really will fall flat on its face. 
You can try, but what I've found to happen is that you'll find something that shows that your position is right and when you present to somebody who takes the other side of that debate, they'll think your stupid because of all these issues they have with it.  And then you'll think they're stupid.