Mind Over Maternity

As the apostle of "natural" childbirth without fear or pain (achieved by building up the mother's confidence and training her to relax), Britain's Dr. Grantly Dick Read had long had a nagging doubt. His theory and practice had been worked out with women in societies far removed from a state of nature. What of the women closest to nature? In 1953, at 63, Dr. Dick Read headed into darkest Africa to find out.

In No Time for Fear (Harper; $3.50), he reports that he found what he was looking for. Among Bushmen and Basutos, Hottentots and Masai, from 95% to 98% go through childbirth like his own prize patients, with no untoward pain. Notable exceptions are women who have committed adultery: they often have long and difficult labor. Dr. Dick Read was amazed to learn of women who had been in painful labor for two or three days but who, when persuaded to confess their adultery, suddenly relaxed and "released the baby from the birth canal in a few minutes with no further trouble." These exceptions, the doctor argues, prove his rule: "Fear causes resistance to birth and that in turn causes pain. Confession removes the fear."

One mystery on which Dr. Dick Read stumbled has him baffled. In a tribe whose women are famed for their beauty, the chiefs have forbidden the women to bear more than one child each. To obey, they take an herb preparation by mouth every six or eight months. What the magic contraceptive component is, no white man knows.

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