The theater inside the Palladium buzzed with excitement on the evening of Thursday, January, 24 at the kickoff event for the South Texas Birth and Women’s Health Collaborative (www.texasbirth.org). Over 400 viewers were treated to a complimentary screening of Ricki Lake’s new documentary on birth, “The Business of Being Born,” followed by a brief question and answer session with members of the Board of the Collaborative.

Inspirational, educational and dramatic, the film invites viewers to consider all aspects of birth in America. “It’s all about options, isn’t it?,” remarked one audience member. “I wish I had known all of this before I gave birth to my two babies.”

Indeed, the mission of the Collaborative is to establish an independent birth and women’s health care center in San Antonio by late 2010. Plans call for a state-of-the-art, non-profit, environmentally sustainable facility that will greet women with an uncommon mix of physicians, midwives, therapists, health educators and nurses. These practitioners will work in tandem to ensure the highest quality of compassionate, evidenced-based care.

“I am excited about being able to give birth at a place where doctors and midwives are working together, and where there is emergency medical backup if something goes wrong. That makes me feel really safe,” remarked another young woman in the audience.

Not only will the center give birthing options to low risk women, but it will also result in cost savings due to anticipated reductions in expensive medical interventions. The Collaborative believes the result will be educated, empowered women, healthier children and stronger families—and what city couldn’t use more of that?