Birthing the West: Mothers and Midwives in the Rockies and Plains

In this talk and book signing, Jennifer Hill charts the experiences of childbirth across Montana, the Dakotas, and Wyoming. In a region that had historically high rates of maternal and infant death, childbirth took on even more importance in defining families, communities, and nations. Hill will explore how women exercised control over their own health and wellbeing and how they lost that power as physicians claimed more authority over reproductive health. The transition from home to hospital and from midwife to doctor created a dramatic shift in the intimately personal act of birth.