Quote Originally Posted by Brina
Lise, I have a kind of controversial question for you. If people prefer, I will delete this off of thread drift.

I assume as a midwife you get the more "alternative" parents rather than the straight and narrow types. What are the circumcision stats among your clientel? I was amazed at the difference in numbers between when I lived in Evanston and when we moved just 10 minutes north.
The rate is low, but not because they're "alternative", but rather because we have a high proportion of Hispanic patients, who generally don't circ their babies. Not the answer you expected, right?! Our practice is the second oldest CNM midwifery practice in the city (oldest is at Cook County Hospital). When the practice started, ~ 30 years ago, it was mostly privately insured couples looking for the "alternative" midwifery experience. Our practice has evolved, and the patient mix is about 60% public aid clinics, 5-10% HMO, and the rest our "private" clinic. Some of the women from the public and HMO clinics are there because they sought us out, but many just walked in the door because that's what their insurance covers. They're happy with the midwifery care (if they don't want to see midwives, we refer them to our docs' clinic), but they didn't necessarily "choose" us for our philosophy. The clinic where I see patients is largely Hispanic, with a fair number of African immigrants, and the occasional American-born of various ethnicities.

If you'd like to discuss the specific question further, let's PM, OK? L.