The Meaning of Natural Childbirth

The term "natural childbirth" encompasses a variety of methods, including the Lamaze, Bradley, and home-birth approaches, which place more or less reliance on medical technology.Aristotle's analysis of three levels of human activity—digestion and reproduction, perception and locomotion, and abstract thinking—and Pellegrino and Thomasma's classification of the "living body," "lived body," and "lived self," provide a principled framework in which each of these childbirth practices can be considered natural.