The Misleading Comfort of calling Labor “Physiologic”

Labor is biological, but it is not stable or self-correcting. Pretending otherwise puts women and babies at risk.

Some people describe labor as “physiologic,” as if using the right word can turn childbirth into a steady, self-guided process that reliably unfolds on its own. The term sounds scientific and reassuring. It makes labor seem predictable and safe by design. But that is not how childbirth works, and the misuse of this single word has quietly distorted expe…