Unique birthing course for LGBT community in Tel Aviv

“The course will be an inseparable part of the variety of services that the hospital offers to the residents of the area."

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Updated: MAY 17, 2016 22:55
A mother and her baby (illustrative) (photo credit: ING IMAGE/ASAP)
A mother and her baby (illustrative)
(photo credit: ING IMAGE/ASAP)
Lis Maternity Hospital, part of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, has launched a special childbirth course for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community. The “Mammi Lis Club” said the course will be held in the “intimate and supportive atmosphere” required by the community starting from the 30th week of pregnancy.
The unique course will consist of two sessions of fourand- a-half hours each. It will be taught by a trained midwife, Adi Ben-Moshe, and put emphasis on support for women and men as they undergo the process of pregnancy (the men through surrogates or others), delivery and parenting in a family setting that is not the traditional one, the hospital said.
The participants will hear relevant information about a healthy lifestyle, nutrition, labor, the delivery room, comping with pain, natural delivery, birth interventions, making initial contact with the baby and returning home. The course will be accompanied by video films and exercises.
Ben-Moshe will put special stress on raising children not in the traditional family structure and providing a warm, pleasant atmosphere with equity and hugs. Homosexuals who will have a baby from a surrogate abroad will also be included.
The first course will open at the hospital on June 10.
Prof. Yariv Yogev, director of Lis Hospital, said that the percentage of LGBTs in Tel Aviv is the highest in the country and that as a public hospital, it sees the need to provide help suited personally to this community. “The course will be an inseparable part of the variety of services that the hospital offers to the residents of the area,” he added.