Janet Jarman
Speaker
Award-winning photojournalist and documentary filmmaker based in Mexico
Birth Wars: Film Screening and Panel Discussion
Date and Time
October 28, 2026
05:00PM - 07:00PM EDT
Location
Belfer Case Study Room, CGIS-South
1730 Cambridge St, Cambridge MA
BIRTH WARS is a 12-year project consisting of an award-winning documentary and newly released book that depicts the power struggle and cultural divide between traditional/professional midwives and the medical establishment in Mexico. Filmmaker Janet Jarman will join local panelists for a post-screening conversation about challenges here in the U.S. regarding expanding greater access to the midwifery model of care.
This event is presented in collaboration with: Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Harvard University, Our Bodies Ourselves at Suffolk University, Bay State Birth Coalition, Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) and Resilient Sisterhood Project.
Cris Alonso
Speaker
MPH, DrPH, Director for Pregnancy, Infancy and Early Childhood at the Mass Dept of Public Health (DPH). Cris established birth centers in Mexico and was a founding member and President of the Mexican Midwifery Association from 2014 to 2017
Julie Mottl-Santiago
Speaker
DrPH, CNM. Senior Research Fellow at UMass Boston in the Manning College of Health Sciences; also a volunteer with Compañeros en Salud in southern Mexico, where she supports clinical training for birth center midwifery students
Jo-Anna Rorie
Speaker
CNM, MSN, MPH, PhD. Advisory Board Member at the Neighborhood Birth Center and Board Member, Bay State Birth Coalition
Amy Agigian
Moderator
Executive Director of Our Bodies Ourselves, Director of the Center for Women's Health and Human Rights, and Associate Professor of Sociology, Suffolk University