Women, Childbirth, and the Curse

If you grew up hearing childbirth and/or women were cursed by God in the garden of Eden, and now you’re absolutely terrified of birth, you do not need to believe this lie anymore.

First, let’s read some snippets from the passage where the curses are found in Genesis 3:

“Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”” Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭14‬-‭19‬

Only two things were cursed: the serpent and the ground.

Adam and Eve were not cursed.

In fact, God even promises redemption and hope for humanity in verse 15.

Well what about the verse that says childbirth pain will be intensified?

In Hebrew, the word used in the verses for pain in childbearing and for toiling of the ground are the same (Strong’s 6093), and they mean agony, anguish, worrisomeness, labor, sorrow, pain- to be in pain from grief or heavy toil.

The same word is later used in Genesis 5:29, when Lamech named his son Noah, for he said, “May he bring us relief from our work and the painful labor of farming this ground that the LORD has cursed.’”

Does it matter, since pain is still involved?

It does, because knowing this allows for a completely different outlook on childbearing.

We aren’t seeing just physical pain from hard labor. We are seeing a multifaceted experience… a deeply emotional experience.

Another point is verse 16 doesn’t actually mean childbirth, but childbearing.

We can see this when we look up the word in Hebrew: Strong’s 2032, which is “conception (in pregnancy)”.

God isn’t talking about labor specifically, but the entire childbearing process, from conception. There is now increased anguish, sorrow, hardship from conception throughout the entire childbearing process.
Through sin, death has entered the world. It is evident in the cultivation of the ground and it is evident in childbearing. All of humanity is affected.

Our Creator designed the childbearing process so wisely, that even though we live in a fallen world, His design is able to withstand the challenges that exist in our world today. We can experience grief, sorrow, pain, anguish, difficulties throughout the entire childbearing process, but we can also experience beauty, joy, peace, awe, and bliss. Many women even experience painless births. Motherhood brings about so much transformation, sanctification, and valuable lessons that carry us throughout our lifetime.

Why is it important to reframe what we believe about childbearing?

Because the lie that childbirth is cursed has caused many women to fear childbirth, to medicalize pregnancy and birth, to hold anger towards God, to accept abuse and malpractice from medical care providers, to miss out on the beauty and transformation and closeness to God that pregnancy, birth, and motherhood bring.

Because if we believe the lie that childbirth is cursed and solely physically excruciating, we are likely to experience a very painful process. We are likely to dread birth. This does a disservice to our body because it causes us to fear the process, which leads to tension and heightened pain. This can even lead to labor complications and interventions, which can lead to more complications.

Our body produces hormones in labor that cause pressure (contractions) that move our baby out of our womb. This pressure is powerful. Our body also produces hormones that relieve discomfort or pain caused by tension we may feel from intense labor.

It is vital to cultivate a mindset that doesn’t fear birth because our body follows our mind. Fear leads to tension, which leads to pain. And the cycle continues. You can end this cycle. You can educate yourself about the incredible design of physiological birth. You can work through any fears and trauma. You can set yourself up for success by choosing an environment most conducive to physiological birth. You can surrender to the process of labor. You can even experience joy, bliss and euphoria in birth.