All Americans And Christians Need To Watch Call The Midwife on Netflix

It showcases life without birth control or abortion and the nuns are perfect role models for practicing Christian Beliefs.

For those of you who haven’t seen this show, it’s a long-running British show that starts out being based on a memoir by a midwife working in the very impoverished East End of London in the early 50s. Each season is another chronological year so as the show progresses so do the historical changes, clothes, and world events on the backdrops, which is one of the things that keeps it interesting and educational.

We start in the early 50s, and the memories of WW2 are still fresh in the heads of everyone. There are frequent references to the Blitz and living under siege but it also highlights the determination and resiliency of the Brits at that time.

The heart of the show is the Nuns of Nonnatus House and the non-nun nurses and midwives that live with the nuns. Nonnatus House nuns are all trained nurses and midwives and have been serving the East End for decades.

This takes place back before it was deemed that hospitals were better places for women to give birth and that midwives were somehow, suddenly, not capable enough to be in charge of helping women through labor and delivery. As the show goes on you see the transition into the belief that male doctors and highly institutionalized scenarios were better for women (fun fact, especially at the beginning, they often weren’t).

It is a lovely ensemble cast of women and there are too many wonderful and heart-touching things that happen in the show for me to describe here, but the writing and acting is top-notch, the characters are all of different ages from barely 21 all the way to their late 60s, the supporting characters you meet along the way are truly memorable as well

The things I want to dwell on in this article are why all Americans and all Christians need to watch this show. Since America is careening back to the age before contraception or legal abortion, this show would be instrumental in showing people the inevitable outcomes that we will deal with if we keep marching down the path we are on; which is way too many babies being born to people who barely make ends meet as it is, more children who are malnourished, more women dying in labor and more women dying due to back alley abortion attempts.

What Call the Midwife does remarkably well highlights the horrors of forcing families who are already poor to bear more kids in an entirely nonjudgemental way. It shows both how tight-knit and optimistic for the future the people were at that time as science was making leaps and bounds and great strides were being made, like the National Health Service. Which didn’t exist before the 50s, you see over and over the benefits, these people received when Britain chose to prioritize health over profit.

There were new buildings being built, and new medicines, like the Pill, and they show how excited married women were to finally be able to stop getting pregnant and not have to rely on men doing the right thing or sheer luck that this time they had sex with their husband they wouldn’t get pregnant, again. The women would have control, finally.

You see, this was the era of religion condemning any sort of family planning so people had very large families and many kids were malnourished or abuse to the point of death. One can sense the palpable relief and excitement of the women who were finally being given a choice.

Now, you can say “Well we still have birth control so it’s not as bad as all that.” To which I reply, “We do for now. GOP is already trying to come for it.”

There is a birth in pretty much every episode, and they do a stellar job of changing up the scenarios of each birth to provide insight into another topic that they want to address. It’s not all breaking waters and women screaming while in labor, there is a deep, complex, and interesting story arc for all the characters as well. However, what hits you, again and again, is the true cruelty that women back then were forced to endure.

There are several episodes that deal with the aftermath of an illegal abortion, episodes dealing with women truly traumatized that they are pregnant, again, because their financial situations are so dire that another child is an impossible burden.

And I know some people would read this and say “Well keep your legs closed!” These are not people who are merely dating, these are married couples, and as is shown in several episodes, the women are pressured by their men though the husbands are well aware of how shitty the situation is, they still want to have sex and merely cross their fingers in hopes that this time there isn’t a pregnancy.

Or, in some cases, they feel owed sex and don’t give a crap if their wife does get pregnant. The husband will simply spend more time down at the pub and let his wife deal with the 5,6,7th kid. He doesn’t care.

Now, why do I feel that all Christians need to watch this? Two words, the nuns. The nuns are absolute role models for how Christians should act. Not one of them is judgmental, even when they are taking care of women who are prostitutes, who have gotten pregnant out of wedlock, or in any number of other scenarios they could be bigoted or cruel.

They never condemn or criticize, they simply have empathy and care and show compassion to anyone who crosses their path. Even when the birth control pill is being rolled out and they are faced with a crisis of faith, they come down on the side of it is not their right to not provide the information and care women require, and they never once frown upon a woman who has chosen to take the pill because they realize the amount of suffering that unregulated pregnancies have caused women as they have seen it first hand.

The nuns serve the community, as Christians should. They helped women birth babies for decades in the East End and were seen as this bedrock center of safety and compassion. If Christians want to save their churches, that is how they should act. You want to convince people that your God means something to the world? Show it.

My mom has always had a soft spot for nuns and has befriended many over the years because she has always said that the nuns do the actual work inside the church, not the priests. It’s the nuns that are out there day in and day out teaching, helping to provide needed care, etc, not the priests and after watching this show I would have to agree. There is a pastor in this show, and he’s young and does well enough but you can tell that even he is in awe of the nuns and for good reasons.

Now, yes, I know many nuns were cruel, etc as well, but it seems that all the scandals seem to be coming from the male side of the churches, not the female side.

At any rate. I would highly suggest watching the show if you haven’t and if you know prolifers or people who keep wondering why religions are failing, show them these nuns and tell them “Maybe there’s a lesson in here for you.”

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