Scientists Have Figured Out Why Childbirth Became So Complex and Dangerous

Pregnant Giving Birth

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 300,000 people die every year due to pregnancy-related causes.

A study finds that complex human childbirth and cognitive abilities are a result of walking upright.

Childbirth in humans is much more complex and painful than in great apes. It was long believed that this was a result of humans’ larger brains and the narrow dimensions of the mother’s pelvis. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now used 3D simulations to show that childbirth was also a highly complex process in early hominin species that gave birth to relatively small-brained newborns – with important implications for their cognitive development.

Complications are common for women during and following pregnancy and childbirth. The majority of these issues arise during pregnancy and are either avoidable or curable. However, childbirth is still dangerous. The World Health Organization estimates that 830 people die every day due to causes related to childbirth and pregnancy. Furthermore, for every woman that dies due to childbirth, another 20-30 encounter injury, infection, or disabilities. 

Four major complications are responsible for 75% of maternal deaths: severe bleeding (typically after birth), infections, high blood pressure during pregnancy, and complications from delivery. Other common issues include unsafe abortions and chronic conditions such as cardiac diseases and diabetes. 

All of this shows how human birthing is much more difficult and painful than that of large apes. This was long believed to be due to humans’ bigger brains and the limited dimensions of the mother’s pelvis. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now shown, using 3D simulations, that birthing was likewise a highly complicated procedure in early hominin species that gave birth to relatively small-brained newborns – with significant consequences for their cognitive development.

The fetus normally navigates a narrow, convoluted birth canal by bending and turning its head at different phases during human delivery. This complicated procedure has a significant risk of birth complications, which may range from extended labor to stillbirth or maternal death. These issues were long thought to be the outcome of a conflict between humans adjusting to upright walking and our larger brains.

The dilemma between walking upright and larger brains

Bipedalism developed around seven million years ago and dramatically reshaped the hominin pelvis into a real birth canal. Larger brains, however, didn’t start to develop until two million years ago, when the earliest species of the genus Homo emerged. The evolutionary solution to the dilemma brought about by these two conflicting evolutionary forces was to give birth to neurologically immature and helpless newborns with relatively small brains – a condition known as secondary altriciality.

A research group led by Martin Häusler from the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine at the University of Zurich (UZH) and a team headed up by Pierre Frémondière from Aix-Marseille University have now found that australopithecines, who lived about four to two million years ago, had a complex birth pattern compared to great apes. “Because australopithecines such as Lucy had relatively small brain sizes but already displayed morphological adaptations to bipedalism, they are ideal to investigate the effects of these two conflicting evolutionary forces,” Häusler says.

Birth Simulation Lucy

Birth simulation of Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) with three different fetal head sizes. Only a brain size of maximum 30 percent of the adult size (right) fits through the birth canal. Credit: Martin Häusler, UZH

The typical ratio of fetal and adult head size

The researchers used three-dimensional computer simulations to develop their findings. Since no fossils of newborn australopithecines are known to exist, they simulated the birth process using different fetal head sizes to take into account the possible range of estimates. Every species has a typical ratio between the brain sizes of its newborns and adults. Based on the ratio of non-human primates and the average brain size of an adult Australopithecus, the researchers calculated a mean neonatal brain size of 180 g. This would correspond to a size of 110 g in humans.

For their 3D simulations, the researchers also took into account the increased pelvic joint mobility during pregnancy and determined a realistic soft tissue thickness. They found that only the 110 g fetal head sizes passed through the pelvic inlet and midplane without difficulty, unlike the 180 g and 145 g sizes. “This means that Australopithecus newborns were neurologically immature and dependent on help, similar to human babies today,” Häusler explains.

Prolonged learning is key to cognitive and cultural abilities

The findings indicate that australopithecines are likely to have practiced a form of cooperative breeding, even before the genus Homo appeared. Compared to great apes, the brains developed for longer outside the uterus, enabling infants to learn from other members of the group. “This prolonged period of learning is generally considered crucial for the cognitive and cultural development of humans,” Häusler says. This conclusion is also supported by the earliest documented stone tools, which date back to 3.3 million years ago – long before the genus Homo appeared.

Reference: “Dynamic finite-element simulations reveal early origin of complex human birth pattern” by Pierre Frémondière, Lionel Thollon, François Marchal, Cinzia Fornai, Nicole M. Webb, and Martin Haeusler, 19 April 2022, Communications Biology.
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03321-z

93 Comments on "Scientists Have Figured Out Why Childbirth Became So Complex and Dangerous"

  1. And did this then lead to long childhoods where care was a long term investment perhaps giving rise to a greater capacity for love.

    • Human capacity for love has nothing to do with children, but self awareness and self healing. I know few people today that are capable of raising children without their needing professional help later on. I quit family counselling not because of the teens, but their psychotic parents!

      • Children are scapegoats. Few people have the brains to see the future and the need for adult children in old age.

      • Psychological needs are different from biological needs. Biological needs just mean that they survive long enough to produce children of their own in an unbroken chain down the genorations. Most parents do that successful. The psychological need of the children to live happy healthy, fullfilled lives free from psychic damage is more or less irrelivent to biology (except insofar as it affects the ability for their children to reproduce).

        Furthermore, it is not reasonable to assume that the psychological reality of modern people in relation to their parents is comparable to the psychological reality of early humans before we developed significant mastery of language.

        Finally, just because parents aren’t GOOD at loving their children, does not mean that there is no evolutionary advantage to becoming BETTER at loving your children than your parents were. Progress towards an instinct to love can be slow, and still produce strong evolutionary pressures.

      • This answer, your answer: So powerful, yet, so untrue. The capacity for compassionate love in humans derived from the domestication of canines and the ingestion of psilocybin, leading man to discover his best friend. God had nothing to do with it. It was Dog. That’s for the JF’s below.

  2. Facts N Truth | June 4, 2022 at 4:35 am | Reply

    Article correction. The child aside, only Women can suffer complications during birth, not people.

    • What do you mean? Are women not people?

    • No, not necessarily. Transgender men who haven’t had bottom surgery, some nonbinary people, and some women could all be able to give birth. There are people who were born female that can’t get pregnant or give birth, or have a very hard time trying to due to diseases, disorders, anatomy, and other matters beyond their control.

  3. Or it is a consiquence of sin from a holy creator:
    To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children…”
    Genesis 3:16a ESV
    We didn’t come from apes.

    • Southvalleyfox | June 4, 2022 at 8:13 am | Reply

      lol. No that was simplistic misogynistic men who came up with that one

    • >>We didn’t come from apes.

      You are (accidentally) correct, we came from a common ancestor with apes. By the time Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) was walking upright, the lineal separation from apes had occurred millions of years prior.

      Beyond that, it is important to realize that ancient civilizations attempted to craft creation stories that were based on their degree of understanding of the world around them They did not have science to inform their decisions and as a result came up with all powerful creators

      These ancient creation stories remain with us, but they do not stand up to our current understandings of genetics. Why do you try to compare an emotional religious belief with a hard scientific outcome of hundreds of years of study?

      It is ok to hold any of a variety of religious beliefs, but it is not ok to try and strike down any scientific discovery that shows your religious beliefs to be mostly sentimental and out dated.

  4. Or we use medical science to impregnate women who, for one reason or another, nature decided should not bear children. Sorry, but “I had 14 miscarriages and then finally had an IVF that worked and now we’re a perfect family” stories aren’t happy…they’re unnatural. I’d you have multiple/several miscarriages, take a hint! We also (usually) give birth in an unnatural lying down position. And we also go to great lengths using medical “knowledge” to keep unborn babies alive that would not have survived if left up to nature. There are so many things we have done medically that aren’t done to great apes in the wild that have made childbirth more complicated and dangerous. Childbirth is literally the most natural thing in the world, and we’ve managed to muck it up with human interference…we’re not really as intelligent as we think.

  5. The death rate for women giving birth was much higher before medical “knowledge” included sterile environments, latex gloves, antibiotics, surgery, etc…

    Although there have always been a majority of women who survive childbirth, there has been much suffering and tragedy in the loss of both mothers and children during birth.

    Your opinions on IVF aside, medical science has done wonders for both mothers and children, and I hope that we do not ever lose these technologies

  6. Your imaging of chimp fossils tells you nothing about humans. Nice try but no science here

  7. Alcohol shrank the brain.

  8. It amazes me how unaware society is of the risks to mother’s health, permanent injuries common and the support and recovery time required after labor.

  9. Childbirth, dangerous? No, really??

  10. Or, or, or, maybe God made childbirth painful as a punishment for the original sin like it says in the Bible.

    “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children.” Genesis 3:16

    • But (But? But? lol) why is God punishing the unborn before their original sin kicks in? Shouldn’t it only be post pardem punishment if God did it? Or was God not able to control his magic on that one?

  11. Sarah Hautzinger | June 4, 2022 at 5:54 pm | Reply

    Humans belong to the great apes, so contrasting them is odd. That said, what a significant finding and interesting to think about what australopithecusine cooperation would have looked like.

  12. Sam is a complete idiot.

  13. In other words, the cognitive ability to distinguish right from wrong (Genesis 3:5) and know you are naked (Genesis 3:7) was the result of a larger brain and the reason women bring forth their children in pain (Genesis 3:16)

    Too smart for our own good.

  14. May I respectfully remind you that humans did not evolve from animals. Evolution was and is, a theory. Creation is a fact. I urge you to do yourself a favor and read the Bible. It’s nice to read it with updated words, such as the New World Translation version. Read how the Bible accurately stated the earth 🌎 is a “sphere”… before it was known by man! Getting wisdom from the Source of life is a treasure that can only enhance your logic. Thank you!

    • Yes, yes we did evolve from animals because how else do you explain dinosaurs or the provable facts science has explained about dinosaurs and discoveries in sedimentary rock, etc. Explain, religious genius. And btw, I was raised Catholic for 17 years, but I wasn’t indoctrinated into whatever B’s you try to come up with. The facts don’t lie.

    • Christopher Ducey | June 8, 2022 at 2:03 pm | Reply

      You are extremely rude to proselytize in a science discussion. The internet provides areas for religious zealots to regurgitate their ancient texts to each other all day long. In here we are discussing new knowledge about our universe, it has nothing to do with your ancient myths and superstitions.

  15. Complications arose when women started giving birth laying on their back starting in the seventeenth century. These scientists are taking the long way to find something in front of their faces.

  16. If a person thinks the theory of evolution works, Why are there still Apes? —- Please research Creation by reading the Bible. From the Scriptures we learn how people have an Amazing Hope for the near future! –*Psalm 37:11 God has a Name-*Psalm 83:18

    • Just because some animals evolved doesn’t mean the whole species will, that’s why we have so much diversity on Earth. Some things were dealt better cards continually, and were born genetically capable of things their counterparts were not capable of (like adaptation). Really, instead of spewing a bunch of religious bs on a scientific article to debunk it, try researching what the article is about and use other scientific reasoning. You probably haven’t considered the fact that the Bible is a collection of stories that had been mistranslated through the centuries, so maybe don’t use the bible as a legitimate source when making claims.

  17. Dumbest theory I have ever heard.

  18. Genevieve Smith | June 5, 2022 at 12:47 am | Reply

    We were made in the image of God. We did not evolve from apes.

  19. I’m a little puzzled by the hypothesis that the size of the head changed 3 million years apart.
    I have 3 different children. The first, a male, has a very large head and caused serious tearing. The second a female had a significantly smaller head and came out much easier. They were only about 1.5 years apart. It did not require 2 million years of evolution.
    There are so many simplifications in this article I have trouble believing anyone with actual birthing experience reviewed it for simple natural explanations prior to these all encompassing blanket statements that almost sound silly.

  20. Because Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree.
    “Then He said to the woman; I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy and in pain you will give birth. Genesis 3:16
    You see man’s first sin brought pain and death into God’s perfect word. God in His mercy gave us a second Adam in Jesus Christ to serve as the perfect sacrifice and wash away all sin. Those that accept Jesus will live forever in the perfect world God intended.

  21. Hog wash, we did not come from apes, we where created form a Holy and Just God, sin caused pain and suffering in childbirth. We here created about 6000 years ago.

  22. I can’t believe the idiotic comments made by Bible Nazis. God punishing all pregnant women because somebody pissed God (whatever that is) off. God offing his “son” to save us from himself. These people (along with the mass shooters) have made the United States an international joke.

  23. If I read the article correctly, that the cause of issues with child birth is because the brain got larger from being smarter… this article lines up with the Bible story. Child birth got harder in the Bible after Adam and Eve at from the tree of Knowledge.

  24. Why do jesus freaks flock to science articles like flies to a pile of s***? Apparently faith is not all that you need.

    • Yes, apparently their faith is so weak that they have to run around and challenge people who disagree with them

      I do not know when is sadder, that they would rely on a ancient collections of tribal stories for scientific information, or that they would come to scientific articles to try and deny current discoveries and demand that people believe what they do…

  25. Any mentioning of creation/g0d immediately turns me off: anti-factual, wasting time hence pathetic.

  26. F*** organized religion.
    Science is not always fact that’s what makes Science Science. There are theories and discoveries that lead to Scientific facts but if later on is discovered the previous fact leads to additional theories that could lead to a new and different fact, the original Scientific fact that was can always be corrected if the new theory or theories (discoveries) lead to a new and different facts that disproves the concept that was originally thought of and accepted as the original fact.
    Science is self correcting, always growing and expanding our knowledge. The more we open our minds to Scientific practices and findings the more discoveries and theories can lead us to facts about our World, Universe and how we as humans came to be.
    Religion is stagnant.
    Organized Religions are man made stories created to make us feel better about the concept of death. Pretty much most of not all stories in the Bible in the US are metaphors. Bible stories that should not be taken literally…

  27. Kathryn Boyne | June 5, 2022 at 9:50 am | Reply

    The number of commentators here who don’t understand how science works is truly disheartening. Hold on to your ancient near east creation myths if you like, but I bet you welcome science and advances in medical knowledge in every other area of your lives. And, one more time, nobody is saying that modern humans evolved from modern apes.

  28. If God punished women for tempting Adam to eat the fruit but not Adam for actually eating it it truly is a misogynistic deity. They both got thrown out of the garden but really! When did you ever let your kid off the hook for misdeeds they knew was wrong because someone else said it was OK?

  29. Standing upright is the best way to give birth. Let gravity do the work not pushing. In the early 1400s in Europe Doctors started having Mothers lay down like they do now. The reason?? It was easier for the Doctor.

  30. Maybe it’s space aliens that were behind the bible. Think about it if we are an early stage of development and aliens came in to study our evolution as a species from the early hunter gatherers thru present day today. Their appearance would be considered God like to early humans and they thru the early years related the visits of alien’s as God and the rest an early attempt to explain the environment and the sudden changes that sometimes occur with weather patterns. Is it possible that humans and apes have a common ancestor? yes, is it possible that human evolved from apes? yes is it possible that ape’s and humans evolved separately from each other and share no common ancestry? Yes any of those are possible possible and maybe we had our mind erased and were sent here as a form of punishment for say trying to take control of the corrupt government and since we act animals they zapped our brains. Just speculating.

  31. The only reason woman give birth laying down was for a king’s entertainment of watching his children be born so maybe other birthing positions may help a woman’s delivery

  32. Article is bullsh%t
    Just another vaccine side effect coverup

  33. Science seems to overlook all the issues that have arisen in childbearing are direct results to science putting crap in our food. Lying down, ultrasounds and overly interfering has complicated the process. Now science has to undo science. I had mine children and that’s what I base my conclusion. Not a textbook hypothesis.

    • Seriously? Childbirth was dangerous 500 years ago. Childbirth was dangerous 1000 years ago. Childbirth was dangerous 1500 years ago. Childbirth was dangerous 2000 years ago. Your hypothesis is ignorant!

  34. God the Creator, the personification of goodness? Let me ask the believers in God: Why did THIS EMANATION OF GOODNESS murder all mankind in the Flood? God saved only Noah’s family, and murdered all mankind, drowned them – old people, women, children, unborn babies…. What was the fault, what was the sin of the just born children? If God were good he would snap his fingers and send everyone to hell, not make innocent children die in suffering. What a cruelty. No human genocide in its cruelty has come close to achieving God’s “success” – no one has murdered all of humanity. God=goodness? Jokes.

    • Adam, that take is just as ignorant and immature as the people who take creation stories literally. How silly everyone here is. Fighting over things we can’t prove.

      Saint.. SAINT Augustine once said something to the effect of, when science and religion disagree we should take the side of science. As for Christianity, it barely exists anymore.

  35. This article is behind and unimpressive. It’s not nearly as bad as all of these people coming in here talking about their religious fairy tales. They are so embarrassing. It’s like children getting involved in an adult conversation they can’t understand and getting in the way, except these people are deliberately and willfully ignorant and you can’t teach them anything. They need to just go away and stop bothering sane people.

  36. Rebecca A Mueller | June 5, 2022 at 5:22 pm | Reply

    Yikes. This comment section is a mess. Not everybody believes in fantasy stories like the Bible and such, we believe in science. Clearly your not here to learn, just argue and quote scripture you googled

  37. Why are there so many religious nuts commenting LOL! Get a life and go to sites catering to your close minded views.

  38. Wonderful comments from many who believe in Creation opposed to Evolution. Creation and the Fall substantiat this research and clearly line up with logic.

    I’ve often said, if Evolution was true a woman (not a man) would grow an extra arm with every pregnancy.

    I loved the process of giving birth. It seems to have worked well enough to populate the world….we’ve only been interfering with birth (at hospitals for less than 100 years).

  39. Sunny Lockwood | June 5, 2022 at 7:33 pm | Reply

    So many comments…and so much ignorance. People afraid of an exchange of ideas because, omg! What if you are WRONG? Gasp! Okay, first-all of you Biblical Scholars…you need to know your shizz if you are gonna pound these “scientists” with scripture. All of you “scientists” need to know that YOU DONT KNOW.
    FACT: the Bible is often used for historical reference. Not everything in the Bible has been proven, but not one thing that is in the Bible has been disproven. Frankly, if you don’t believe the Bible, well, why not? What have you got to lose? And just because someone believes the words in the Bible does not make them anti-science. We were given the capability of learning and discovering and evaluating and concluding. So look at the FACTS of anything before ya go spouting off your mouth btw- “Lucy” has been proven to be a farce. Js.

  40. Maureen Spano | June 6, 2022 at 12:20 am | Reply

    I have been sick most of my life with an auto immune disease. And started volunteering for research studies. I can tell you with certainty that they are all altered to go towards the beliefs of the ones doing the studies. With that said. It doesn’t take rocket science to determine that pain is caused by the contractions that push the baby out. This is a dumb article. And the dangers are obvious. Baby not positioned right. Sudden drop in Moms blood pressure. Excessive bleeding ect… These things are all obvious without some quack putting some spin on it. If any studies should be done. They should research how to make childbirth less dangerous.

  41. Christine Hamscher | June 6, 2022 at 3:15 am | Reply

    Read Genius in the Bible. The pain is due to Eve’s eating of the forbidden apple.

  42. There has to be a sperm from a man and an egg from a women to create a child. God did create us. We did not just appear. Think about a small helpless newborn. If there was not a man and women created then Who took care of the first newborn? We would not have survived if there was no man and/or women to care for the first human newborn.

    • There was no first human newborn. If you understand evolution, you know that it wasn’t like monkeys were born yesterday and humans are born today – it doesn’t work that way 🙂 It’s a process of thousands of years. Each child has its own parent – unless we go back millions of years, to the time of reptiles, then at some point in history it may actually turn out that a reptile from our lineage, laid eggs and did not take care of them 🙂 Millions and millions of years ago – looking through the prism of evolution.
      Secondly, to create a child you don’t need a sperm and an egg. If you follow science you know that we can make stem cells from skin cells or from fat cells. And a stem cell can be turned into any cell – including the equivalent of a fertilized egg that will produce a fully developed human being. A human being created without the need for an egg, sperm, soul … I see that you have no idea about the latest developments in science. And it’s a pity, because they are really impressive (e.g. artificial cell, artificial life).

  43. Scientists and the WHO think they are geniuses. We aren’t apes. We are human. God is probably giggling. And yes. I am a person of faith.

  44. Really? Not going to mention at all how unnatural hospital birth has become? Contorting the woman’s body against her will and forcing to exert all this effort on an empty stomach and to push when she’s not ready.

  45. Wow what a joke. Hospitals and most midwives don’t even know what physiological birth is! Birthing on our backs, with a bunch of people we have never met watching? Constantly inducing women before they naturally go into labor? Terrifying women throughout their pregnancy that something will go wrong? Constantly having monitors set up and not allowing women to eat or drink during labor? I could go on and on. Natural, physiological birth in women who have eaten a nutrient-rich diet (that doctors and midwives don’t even encourage or address) rarely results in issues. As well, when a woman is in her space and the ability to work through her body process naturally – birth is not as painful either. There is so much to be said here, but this article isn’t it.

  46. Or… It’s become so dangerous due to the way modern society treats it. Like it’s some sort of emergency that needs to be managed, rather than treat it like the natural thing it is. Too many unnecessary interventions, too little maternal support during birth and postpartum, etc.

    • I’m no bible junkie and I’m no scientist, and I dont read into every word I read as straight fact or straight fiction.

      My takeaway from this article is that apes, as with most animals, give birth to rather high functioning babies who are walking mere days if not hours after birth; Deer, elephants, even reptiles are mobile soon after they see the light of day.

      Human tendency toward bipedalism around 7 million years ago necessitated the compression of birth canals, resulting in a labyrinth for the fetus that is not typically found in any other animals. The human body therefore evolved to give birth to children with smaller heads.

      okay, so this is where things get interesting. Because it’s not that humans just got smaller heads, it’s that humans had to be birthed half cooked from the womb in order to make it out safer. The article above states that apes around the same time had brain ccs of 180 of 145 but that wasn’t ideal in our case due to to our compressed birthing canals and wombs- which stemmed from our bipedaliam. Since modern, more humanlike babies were born half cooked, that actually is one of the reasons we grew to have such an advantage over other creatures. Those half cooked baby brains are super absorbent of language and information and culture the first 6 to 9 months post birth, generations of bipedals were able to compound the advantage to become the apex wherever we went.

      Here’s a reference from scientific american:
      “Why Humans Give Birth to Helpless Babies
      By Kate Wong on August 28, 2012
      Human babies enter the world utterly dependent on caregivers to tend to their every need. Although newborns of other primate species rely on caregivers, too, human infants are especially helpless because their brains are comparatively underdeveloped. Indeed, by one estimation a human fetus would have to undergo a gestation period of 18 to 21 months instead of the usual nine to be born at a neurological and cognitive development stage comparable to that of a chimpanzee newborn.”

      Personally, babies creep me out. They are literally little bodies running around with noone behind the wheel until they’re like 3.

      What do you guys think? Did I get it right?

    • Scott Shields | June 6, 2022 at 11:57 am | Reply

      Hi, Nicole. Then how do we explain the drastically higher rates of both maternal and infant deaths during childbirth that existed until recently? For example, my sister was born at seven months and died seven days later. Today, that is common and easily survivable. A visit to any cemetery that existed before 1930 will show many deceased young women (who died during pregnancy or childbirth). If “natural” was better, why was it so much worse then?

  47. Stephanie Jordan | June 6, 2022 at 8:14 am | Reply

    These people obviously have never read the book of Genesis. Human beings have nothing in this world to do with apes. God made us in His own image and we as humans are the only living thing that are born with a soul. We are the ONLY ones out of all of His creation that can ask for His forgiveness, be saved and become one of His children. We (humans) are also the ONLY of ones that can go to Heaven: and we can only go by the blood of Jesus, God’s son.

    • No one cares for the book of Genesis, because there is no scientific fact in it that can be proven by anyone. Plus, the Bible is a collection of stories that had been crudely mistranslated throughout the centuries, so stop relying on it to give you medical truths. It’s not accurate whatsoever.

  48. Childbirth is not dangerous! This is big pharma push.

  49. Ju, you said it perfectly!

  50. ><
    I just wanted to say how str8⬆️ awesomely said & well put together your comment was, it was truly a masterpiece.
    Enough that I re-read it multiple times, and it resignated with me each time.
    So thank you, for the perfectly strung together words & insightful wisdom, interlaced with science & fact to make the point crystal clear.
    Perfet play of words & information.
    👍💯⭐

  51. A Woman With A Brain | June 6, 2022 at 5:05 pm | Reply

    The best choice is to simply not have any kids..My opinion especially with all the mess going on in world today..So your body won’t be destroyed and nor will your life. Also society and the government wont be able to tell you how you be when it comes to parenting because you wont be a parent to begin with. Youll be saving money too. Don’t worry God won’t hold it against you if you chose not to have any kids.

    • This👆, or, if you’re dead set on having kids, adopt! Foster! Take in kids who are already living lives that can be bettered with parental figures in their lives. Thank you, a sensible comment.

  52. To all those who refered to the bible in these comments, don’t you know that reading anything else than scriptures is sin according to your prefered fairytale? Can’t you recognize your hypocrisy, you malevolent dishonest pricks!?
    I cannot believe the number of religious freaks who use a book of fables to explain the world they see and experience only to come and pester the internet with their stupidity. I have no respect at all for those who tend to tell others what to do or think based on scriptures as old as the discovery/invention of the wheel and have no problem telling them how unimportant their opinion is compared to fecal matter.
    These half witted morons should have no right to expression and outta be cast aside from any rational discussion and even from modern society. Go live in Afghanistan with your equals you bunch of iron age r******!
    Them so called christians are slowimg down the group just as much as them sharia peddling animals. The sheer amount of thoughtlesness from these imbeciles is impressive. The old testament tells them they shall not judge, yet they use the same fairytale to set judgment upon others.
    One last thing, there is no paradise, there is no afterlife, you all are stardust used as plant food and insect fodder until there is no life left on earth. For the extremely short period you had it, you wasted the blessing of consciousness on thoughtlesness, you vapid, vacuous monkeys. May you feel shame for the rest of your useless time… ain’t that basically what your so called “God” tells you to do anyways?

  53. Shannon Miller | June 7, 2022 at 7:38 am | Reply

    This is why I do not believe in God . If we were made perfectly in his image 830 women would not die each day in childbirth.

    • Glen Senecal | June 7, 2022 at 4:03 pm | Reply

      Adam and Eve sinned while in the garden of Eden. As a result, God punished Eve with childbirth complications. Simple as that

  54. Marion E Painter | June 7, 2022 at 11:33 am | Reply

    Unnecessary Medical intervention has created a lot of the dangers. Had my children at home to avoid that. Went beautifully.

  55. That’s easy at least to answer the question to the title. Modern medicine.

  56. WILLIAM BARCLAY | June 7, 2022 at 12:59 pm | Reply

    Suspiciously timely, as it feeds into the so-called ‘pro-choice’ narrative that a every woman’s life is in danger during childbirth. Get real!

  57. Its because Men have interjected themselves i to womens birthing practice. Women used to give birth at home with Midwives that had hundreds of years of knowledge passed down to them. The men be ame “doctors” and led a smear campaign against home births and midwives. These “doctors” have literally bwwn experimenting with women’s lives and births since then

  58. Glen Senecal | June 7, 2022 at 4:00 pm | Reply

    All of our gained knowledge and scientists are still dumb enough to believe that the earth is billions of years old and that we descended from primates. God the Father created us only about 20,000 years ago give or take. 6 days after he began work to create the Earth. So called Carbon Dating is an invention of man. So it is only as accurate as the humans who created it thinks it should be. SMH

  59. To think that evolution and creation cannot both be true sounds like thinking God is, frankly, not that smart. And any cursory study of biology, of life on this planet is beyond amazing, intricate, and interdependent, diverse beyond our knowledge, thriving in unimaginable conditions in unimaginable ways. There are no rules, no limits to God’s powers, only our understanding.
    The Bible tells many stories, which were passed down before the written word, and written within the confines of both human understanding, and what the humans with power here on Earth wishing or tolerating it to say. That is why there are recurring themes commanding obedience to parents and government; women confined to specific roles submissive to men. But there are wonderful stories that also spread love of our fellow man, command protection and care for the vulnerable and needy that should not be lost due to the enduring flaws of text that has been written and translated by flawed humans for thousands of years.
    Is it really a stretch to think that God created all the beings, knowing that in time, one of those beings would become the humans he loved so much, and those humans would develop a thirst for understanding everything he had to offer, from the stars and distant galaxies, to microscopic organisms, to the depths of the ocean, including the many creations that came before us?
    I don’t consider myself religious, I don’t know scripture, have attended Sunday service less times than fingers on one hand to count. I very much believe in science, but I’m not so arrogant to think that a higher power couldn’t possibly have had a hand in such an amazing universe, let alone one that has revealed all his or her secrets in simple explanations that fit in a few hundred pages of a relatively small book. Think bigger.

  60. look here are my personal thoughts:
    childbirth is complex because of the position the woman is in, lack of nutrients, and a bunch of doctors the woman has never met staring at her coochie telling her all the things that might go wrong. technology isn’t helping as much as you think. survival of the fittest. i understand you love your child but if they are really sick at birth life is gonna suck for them.
    you can’t use the bible as a scientific reference. you can’t prove one religion is right and one isn’t. so how do we know for sure the bible is true? we don’t. while we may have *evidence* of some events happening we don’t know the story behind them. also christianity isn’t the only religion. i’m trying to read actual comments with peoples thoughts not a bunch of christian’s who think they’re superior. adam and eve weren’t the first and only people. if they were there would be a lot of inbreeding going on and the species would have failed.
    there wouldn’t be as many deaths during labor if say the person could get an abortion. if they’re a kid they shouldn’t have to give birth. same if they’re sick.

  61. I love your analysis Brandon. I feel it is spot on! My opinion is that you actually read, processed, and learned something from this article.

  62. Science and Religion are and always will be totally compatible. Evolution does not preclude creation. Many of the world’s brightest scientists are deeply religious. Point 2: The single biggest change in mother mortality in childbirth (1 in 4 women died in childbirth) was hand washing by the doctor or midwife so the mother did not get an infection. Simple handwashing!

  63. An… interesting comment section. As a Christian, it hurts me to see my fellow believers sabotaging their responsibility as a witness by not reconciling modern scientific knowledge with Scripture. An omnipotent God can orchestrate Creation however He sees fit- in this case, in accordance with the natural laws that He established, over billions of years. Claiming otherwise is folly and makes God appear deceptive. Scripture is inerrant, our interpretation is not.

    Furthermore, childbirth is one of the greatest successes of modern medicine- the risk of death is one *fiftieth* of what it was before medicine. My wife would have died 3 times over without doctors- eclamsia, bleeding, and infection. Instead, she was induced, had stitches, and was given penicillin. Walked out a few days later.

    People, get your facts straight.

  64. Jody Mitchell | June 10, 2022 at 6:45 pm | Reply

    Im so glad Im washed in the blood.Im also saddened by all these people who dont believe in God.God owns science.You dont have to believe in him or have a relationship with him but I cant imagine living without him. He is my lifeline.

  65. Not to mention the issue of making women give birth laying on their backs instead of whichever comfortable natural position the woman feels like being in…

  66. Imagine you are a woman about to give birth, and the doctor can say one of two things to you. In the first scenario, they tell you that they are going to give you a local anesthetic that will numb the area, making you comfortable during the procedure. In the second scenario, they say that you are going to experience a big bee sting, and it will be the worst part of the procedure. Can you guess which scenario would bring you more pain? Doctors actually did this for a study published in the Jama Journal of the American Medical Association. The study focused on the negative effects a nocebo brings to patients. Unsurprisingly, the women told to expect a lot of pain experienced significantly more than did the ones told that they would remain comfortable (net-boss.org/the-power-of-the-placebo-effect-by-randy-baker).

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