Join us in the Vera Rushforth Reading Garden of the Elting
Memorial Library on Tuesday June 4th as local author Rachel Somerstein vis
its to launch her book Invisible Labor: The Untold Story of the Cesarean S
ection on the day of its publication! Rachel will be in conversation with
Debbie Healy\, a certified nurse-midwife\, discussing birth\, midwifery\,
C-sections\, and how the past shapes the contemporary landscape of birth.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event thanks to I
nquiring Minds Bookstore! \;Register to receive an email the day befo
re the program. In the event of inclement weather the program will be held
inside in the Steinberg Reading Room.
Rachel Somer
stein is an associate professor of journalism at SUNY New Paltz. She has w
ritten for the Washington Post\, Guernica\, and Wire
d\, among many other publications. Invisible Labor is her fi
rst book. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her family.
De
bbie Healy is a Certified Nurse Midwife. She has provided care in the home
\, birth center and hospital settings for the past 20 years. She lives wit
h her husband and two children in the Hudson Valley.
A
BOUT THE BOOK: \"As abortion rights are rolled back across the country and
a new chapter of legal constraints threaten the autonomy of all persons w
ho can become pregnant\, journalism professor Rachel Somerstein&rsquo\;s <
em>Invisible Labor (Ecco\; 978006364410\; on-sale 6/4/24) offers a re
velatory examination of the most common surgery performed in America &ndas
h\; the cesarean section &ndash\; and what rising rates of C-sections can
tell us about the forces shaping women&rsquo\;s healthcare in America. Whe
n Somerstein had an unplanned C-section with her first child\, the experie
nce was anything but the 'routine' operation her doctor described. A serie
s of errors by her clinicians led to a living nightmare: surgery without a
nesthesia. The ensuing mental and physical complications left her traumati
zed and searching for answers about how things could have gone so wrong. S
he was also left with a growing curiosity about why birth has come to look
the way it does in the US &ndash\; and what lessons we might learn from h
istory to reimagine a different future. One in three babies is born via C-
section in the United States\, a rate that has grown exponentially over th
e past fifty years. And while in most cases the procedure is 'safe\,' it i
s not without significant\, sometimes life-changing consequences (like whe
n\, and how\, someone can have a subsequent baby) with its burdens falling
disproportionately on people of color. Mothers are often left to navigate
these complications alone\, with C-sections all but invisible in well-thu
mbed pregnancy guides and even standard medical advice received before and
after birth. And yet\, Somerstein describes the overwhelming number of si
milarly traumatic C-section stories she heard\, once she felt strong enoug
h to share her own. It felt\, she writes\, like tumbling into 'a secret cl
ub with a seemingly infinite membership. There are just so many of us\,' s
he observes\, 'throughout every echelon of society\, looking like normal\,
well-adjusted people doing our thing\, belying the traumatizing or otherw
ise unresolved C-section at the center.'
\;
\nIn In
visible Labor\, Somerstein weaves personal narrative and investigativ
e journalism with medical\, social\, and cultural history to reveal the su
rprising evolution of the cesarean section: from its
days being pract
iced on enslaved and 'unfit' women (an origin story that continues to haun
t contemporary narratives of C-sections as 'unnatural births')\, to the wa
ys modern medical technology
promotes its overuse. She uncovers the c
urrent-day failures of our medical system\, showing how pregnant people&rs
quo\;s pain and agency is often disregarded by physicians who\, motivated
by fear of litigation or a hospital&rsquo\;s commitment to efficiency\, ma
ke consequential decisions on behalf of their patients. And in one incredi
bly moving testimonial after another\, Somerstein reveals how the very sam
e forces threatening abortion access &ndash\; legal statutes\, social dete
rminants of health\, and the financialization of healthcare &ndash\; make
it difficult for people to also access the maternal care or birth support
they need. From tracking how midwifery and more traditional birth practice
s became threatened by the rise of hospitalized births and medical imperia
lism\, to the unseen perils of for-profit care and the many ways women hav
e had their pain discounted for generations\, Invisible Labor is
a 'damning history [that] highlights how sexism and racism have shaped wom
en&rsquo\;s healthcare for centuries' (Publishers Weekly\, starre
d review). In this trenchant and deeply personal book\, Somerstein asks ur
gent\, long overdue questions about the state of maternal care today\, whi
le providing a sorely needed vision for what birth might look like going f
orward &ndash\; at last giving a voice to that 'seemingly infinite members
hip' so wounded by the system.\"