It’s time we really talked about the real cost of giving birth.

Join us for a screening of “BORN FREE: The Real Cost of Birth” – an “unexpected journey of discovery from first time director Paula James-Martinez, created with an all female crew.”

In the 2022 documentary, Martinez travels across the US to understand what makes it the most dangerous and most expensive nation in the developed world in which to give birth. From heartbreaking personal stories to harrowing facts and the words of experts both in the medical and legal fields, BORN FREE shines a light on the true cost of giving birth in the US. 

When:	Sat., March 18, 4pm
Where:	Grace Lutheran Church 3830 Homer Street, Yorktown NY 10598
Cost:	FREE

About the film:

American mothers are in crisis. The multitude of issues affecting American families have only been exacerbated by the pandemic. With healthcare and reproductive rights at a forefront of the news cycle, “Born Free” is a timely deep dive into what it is like to have a baby in modern day America. Asking questions like why do so many women experience PTSD after birth? Emergency surgery? Anxiety issues? Bankruptcy?

Let’s start with a simple fact: We are the country with the most expensive healthcare in the world, yet our maternal MORTALITY rate has RISEN 30 percent in the last 15 years.

This fact alone should give us all a moment’s pause. But more than just an expose on “just” why we have the worst maternal mortality rate in the developed world.

If birth and pregnancy are our lens on how a society values its women, why is it a fight that women in the US are losing more often and not less often? A fight birthing people have to undertake when feeling at their most vulnerable.

A fight that has statistically awful outcomes for women of color. A fight against a lack of informed choice, against medical overreach and sometimes abuse. A fight for bodily autonomy, against systemic racism, sexism, poverty, and big pharma. Potentially even a fight for our lives.