Our mission is to increase awareness of the benefits of natural (drug free) childbirth and homebirth by sharing empowering information with women, families and the healthcare community.

Description:
A 31.2% cesarean section rate in the US and our bottom ranking for infant and maternal mortality points to something missing in our society.
Sage Femme believes that a major missing ingredient is knowledge. Knowledge of the natural design of birth. What is it? How does it work? How can birth be ecstatic instead of painful, transforming instead of depressing? We would like doctors, midwives, mothers, families, educators and healthcare professionals to have the knowledge and be able to share the images which truly empower a woman to own her birth naturally.

Sage Femme is a small, all volunteer organization based in Marin but with a global outreach. We hire camera people, editors and others when making films about birth. Our network is among filmmakers, healthcare professionals, educators and creatives. We like home offices and births.

History:
Sage Femme (literally - wise woman) is the French term for midwife. Midwives have attended birth in every culture since before the beginning of time. At some point in the United States, however, birth became a big business. Laws were created to control where and with whom women could give birth. The ancient art of midwifery became illegal in some states. This, of course, limited a woman's choice around the time of birth. In most cultures today and in the past in the United States, birth was a private family event which took place primarily at home. Now, in the United States, birth is primarily a medical event taking place in a hospital. The many interventions, high cesarean section rate and discomfort women feel from this kind of birth impelled the organization of Sage Femme in 1998.

By then the digital age was allowing midwives and families to unobtrusively record births at home. These births were more natural, without drugs and interventions. The first video Sage Femme edited was simply shown to families and educators. Then another video was screened at The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. This video, "Birth Day" was later installed permanently in the Museum of Science, Boston. The demand for more natural birth images grew and Sage Femme became known through the internet.

What started as a private video production company in Massachusetts was moved to California as a global nonprofit organization in September 2005.

In September 2007, Sage Femme sponsored the first "Motherbaby International Film Festival." It opened in Portland, Oregon at the Gentle Birth World Congress. Most of the films were short documentaries about birth which included five world premieres. Panels with filmmakers and experts followed screenings. Ricki Lake screened her film, "The Business of Being Born." The Festival highlighted the desire on the part of women be free to make their own choices about birth. This is better for them, their babies and ultimately society.

Contact person: Diana Paul, Executive Director, (phone), (email)
Main office number: (415) 847-6252
Office fax number: (415) 435-8814

Address:

PO Box 973 Tiburon, CA 94920

Directions:

Nearest Bus Stop: Tiburon Blvd and Main Street, 3 minute walk