Midwife Means "With Woman": 'Call the Midwife' and the History of Abortion in England
Nurse Valerie Dyer: Did we do the right thing? Bringing her here?
Mother Julienne: The word midwife means with woman. A woman in that situation needs someone by her side whatever mistakes or choices brought her to our door.
It’s 1964 and things are changing in Poplar on Call the Midwife.
A dad actually asks to be at the, ah, interesting end of his child’s birth and is firmly put in his place, and more women want to give birth in hospitals. Hemlines are rising as Britain becomes a fashion powerhouse. Yet some things just don’t change. As now, an obsession with royal births rules (and if you really want to know, apparently bets are now at 1:2 that Meghan and Harry’s baby will be a girl, with the top name predicted to be Diana. Yes, British bookies do big business during royal pregnancies). And sadly, not every birth is joyfully anticipated, and many women, particularly poor women in an area like Poplar, have few options for help.
