Pregnant women
Some religious and cultural beliefs about pregnancy and childbirth seem to be worsening an already high maternal mortality rate in Nigeria. And one such belief derives from the biblical story found in the book of Exodus chapter one, about how pregnant Jewish women were so strong at the time of delivery that they delivered their babies without the help of midwives.
The context for the misconceptions surrounding this story is the Christian belief that Abraham is the spiritual ancestor of all believers, whether Jewish or non Jewish. But while this belief that Christians belong to the Abrahamic lineage is biblical and valid, it should be noted that the genealogy in reference is not a physical one, but one that is based on faith.
In other words, Christians do not trace their lineage from Abraham through physical descent, but rather through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, in fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. This promise is for everyone who receives Christ and surrenders to Him, irrespective of their ethnicity or nationality. And it does not mean that you become Jewish by becoming a Christian. It is purely a spiritual heritage. As Paul said in Galatians 3:29, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.“
Curiously, some have added a needless physical dimension to this purely spiritual genealogy, and by some strange interpretational model that is alien to hermeneutics, have come to the conclusion that Christian women being “descendants of Abraham”, should also be able to deliver their babies the same way they believe Hebrew women have always delivered theirs. But how true is the story of Hebrew women delivering without the help of midwives? Let’s take a closer look at this.
Exodus 1:18-19 says: So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?” And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”
Pharaoh had ordered the Hebrew midwives mentioned in Exodus 1 to kill male babies born to Jewish women, in an effort to curb the growth of the nation of Israel, which he and his people feared might become a threat to their power and security if left uncontrolled.
Seeing that the male babies were not being killed as he had instructed, Pharaoh confronted the midwives, seeking an explanation. The midwives responded to Pharaoh with a lie, telling him the Hebrew women gave birth before midwives arrived and then hid their babies to protect their lives. Verse 17 of Exodus 1 states clearly how the midwives handled Pharaoh’s order: “But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.”
It is clear from the story that the midwives disobeyed Pharaoh’s order and refused to kill the male Hebrew babies and then lied to Pharaoh that they didn’t have the opportunity to do so.
If the king suspected that the midwives lied to him, the Bible doesn’t tell us. But his response to their “explanation” was to immediately extend the command to kill Hebrew male children to all Egyptians. He ordered his people to throw any male child found among the Jews into the River Nile. By so doing he took away the ability of the midwives to oppose his plans.
It may even have been true that some Hebrew women in this Pharaoh’s time delivered before the midwives got to them, but the report from the midwives extending this attribute to all Hebrew women of that time was obviously a lie, which they told to the King in order to avoid punishment for disobeying his order.
If you had all along seen this story the midwives told Pharaoh as a factual account of how Hebrew women actually gave birth in those days, now you need to change your thinking, and this change is especially necessary for the men and the families using the story against their wives.
In our society, the belief among those who seem obsessed with this Hebrew women story is that delivering like the Hebrew women means vaginal delivery, as opposed to delivery by caesarian section. For such people, this presumed delivery method of Hebrew women is a set standard and anything other than that is unacceptable. Some call their wives “lazy”, “cursed”, “not woman enough” and a host of other unprintable names for needing to deliver through CS, forgetting that the pregnancy journey is not the same for every woman.
While there may be nothing wrong with hoping that a woman gives birth vaginally, it is wrong to use this lie told by the Hebrew midwives (or some other false belief) as a basis for insisting that she must give birth vaginally, especially if the doctors have determined that it would be unsafe for her.
Even if that story was true, by now you know that being a “descendant of Abraham” does not make your wife a Hebrew woman. And you need to know that even in Israel today, many women are giving birth through C-section. Do you even realise that in Bible times, there were Jewish women who died in childbirth? You don’t know because you’ve never actually studied the Bible.
I am heartbroken every time I read these stories about pregnant women dying because their husbands or husbands’ families refused to “approve of” a C-section or provide the funds for it. And there have been several such reports in the news this year alone. It is imperative that we begin to speak up against this ugly trend, for the sake of many more women out there whose lives may be at stake on account of it.
Pregnancy for a lot of women is a difficult and dangerous journey, and in my view, what should matter to us at all times is that a woman delivers safely. But rather than focusing on ensuring the survival of both mother and child, some are obscenely fixated on whether or not the method of delivery accords with their preconceived notions, when they’re neither the pregnant woman nor her doctor.
I have always maintained that since women are usually the ones to say yes before a relationship starts or a marriage takes place, the woman who will say yes should be fully aware of who and what she’s saying yes to and be absolutely sure that doing so is in her best interest.
Avoid the common distractions of today and focus on knowing his character, his beliefs and his attitudes. Those are the things that can make a difference when that day of crisis comes, whether it’s about childbirth or some other issue that touches on your life and wellbeing.
Some will tell you, “In our family, we don’t deliver through CS.” Really? Well, that’s a stupid thing for anyone to say, because we’re talking about a health issue that could become a matter of life and death. Health decisions are made based on necessity and with the help of professionals in the field, not based on a family’s irrational claims. Every pregnancy is different, and it’s a no-brainer that the best person to assess the mothers health and the risks involved and recommend a fitting delivery method is a doctor, not someone with no medical background who is merely out to enforce the silly idea of a family delivery method. This is why as woman, you need to dig deep and know exactly who you’re dealing with before saying yes.
It should never happen that a woman is already in labour before she finds out that the family she married into is antediluvian in their thinking and would readily endanger her life over a baseless notion they’re stubbornly holding on to.
If as a married woman, you discover after getting married that you made an error of judgement and ended up with someone who would not prioritise your wellbeing when the occasion calls for it, you can leave before it’s too late. Yes, God hates divorce, but He hates foolishness even more.
Available data from the World Health Organisation shows that Nigeria has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world at 1047 deaths per 100,000 live births, following closely after South Sudan and Chad, and ranking higher than Afghanistan and Somalia – countries we might expect to be in far worse positions than Nigeria, given their peculiar sociopolitical situations. Interestingly, Malaysia, a developing nation just like Nigeria, has one of the lowest rates at 21 deaths per 100,000 live births.
If this indicates that our healthcare system is in terrible shape, as we know it is, why should anyone use their harebrained beliefs to make things even worse for pregnant women? As a woman, you should do your best to avoid becoming part of this gory statistic. If it ever comes down to a choice between your life and the family you married into, you should know who to choose. And please make that choice while you still can, before an adversarial spouse or in-law has to make it for you.
To conclude, we all, as individuals and as a society, have a sacred duty to ensure, as much as it is within our ability, that no pregnant woman has to die in childbirth. While we must continue to pressure government at all levels to provide stronger policy and political support towards this end, we should equally ensure that our religious and cultural beliefs do not become impediments to progress.
