ABSTRACT
This chapter explores ontological framings of the body that births in biomedicine, psychology, global birth politics and activism. It outlines the small body of qualitative research that has explored aspects of birthing embodiment. The biomedical body, as risky, defective and in need of medical intervention, is a dominant interpretation of the birthing body. Birth is highly political and situated at the center of ideological and moral struggles about women's bodies, maternity, biopolitics and reproduction. The idea of 'normal birth' functions as one of these key ontological concepts and is invoked and valorized by many birth activists. The idea of 'normal birth' is not just valorized by midwives but is also entangled with problematic and commodified idealizations of birth. Since the 2000s, a growing body of birth activism has focused on human rights and birth. The rhetoric of 'human rights' in birth is important but lacks sustained engagement with the implications of the fleshy corporeality of birth.
