Once the exclusive domain of women, childbirth increasingly became a medicalized event characterized by medical instruments and male medical specialists in 19th and 20th century North America. 

Most women gave birth at home up until the 1940s, which required attending physicians to be prepared with appropriate supplies, instruments and even paperwork at the birth.  Childbirth could be fatal for both mother and child due to premature delivery, birthing complications, excessive bleeding, infection and childbed fever. 

The role played by obstetrical instruments is debatable – were they a blessing or a danger?  Whether forceps or pelvimeters, the use of these tools by practitioners raised issues of authority and philosophical approaches to childbirth still relevant today.