Fear and Now Flips the Script on How We View Birth in America
Written by Elizabeth Alleva, HypnoBirthing Mommy
Elizabeth Alleva is the founder of HypnoBirthing Mommy, dedicated to empowering women during pregnancy and childbirth. With a focus on personalized support, she helps expectant mothers embrace their inner strength and navigate their birthing journeys with confidence.
What if everything we believed about childbirth, mainly that it must be painful, chaotic, and traumatic, wasn’t true? This question pulses at the heart of Fear and Now, the 2025 documentary by director and mother Liat Ron, a film that is quickly becoming essential viewing for anyone invested in how we bring new life into the world. With raw honesty and gentle insight, the film invites us to take a hard look at the culture of fear that dominates modern birth in the United States, and offers a powerful alternative: HypnoBirthing.
A culture rooted in fear
Liat Ron's journey began like many others. After a traumatic first birth, she approached her second pregnancy with understandable fear. But what she discovered changed everything: HypnoBirthing, a method of childbirth preparation that teaches self-hypnosis, deep relaxation, and a complete reframing of birth as a natural, empowered process, not something to endure, but something to embrace.
The transformation Ron experienced inspired her to travel across the country to speak with other birthing people and care providers, documenting a movement that’s quietly but powerfully shifting the paradigm of childbirth.
HypnoBirthing: The best-kept secret in birth
Fear and Now shines a bright light on what Ron calls “the best-kept secret in the birthing world”—and as a longtime HypnoBirthing educator, I couldn’t agree more. For decades, families have discovered this method almost by accident, often after a challenging experience or through word of mouth. But this film brings HypnoBirthing out of the shadows and onto center stage, where it belongs.
The method is more than a set of breathing techniques or visualizations. It’s a complete mindset shift. HypnoBirthing teaches that birth is not a medical emergency; it’s a physiological event that, when properly supported, can unfold with grace, strength, and even joy.
Why this film matters now
Fear and Now is timely and necessary. In a country where the maternal mortality rate remains alarmingly high, especially among marginalized communities—and where far too many people feel disempowered by their birth experiences, this documentary is both a comfort and a call to action.
It’s a comfort for anyone who has carried fear, shame, or trauma around birth. And it’s a call to action for birth workers, policymakers, and families to reimagine how we prepare for and support this significant life event.
A must-watch for every parent (and provider)
This is not just a film for expectant parents. It’s a film for midwives, OBs, doulas, educators, nurses, and anyone who plays a role in shaping birth experiences. It’s also a gift to anyone who’s ever wondered if birth could be different.
Because it can.
And Fear and Now shows us how.
This article was inspired by the Forbes feature “Mind-Expanding Media: 10 Things To Read, Watch And Listen To In 2025” by Holly Corbett, which spotlighted “Fear and Now” as a must-watch documentary that redefines the birth experience through the lens of HypnoBirthing.
Read the original article here.
Read more from Elizabeth Alleva
Elizabeth Alleva, HypnoBirthing Mommy
Elizabeth Alleva is the founder of HypnoBirthing Mommy, dedicated to empowering women during pregnancy and childbirth. With a passion for supporting expectant mothers, Elizabeth provides personalized guidance to help them embrace their inner strength and navigate their birthing journeys with confidence and grace. Committed to creating a nurturing environment, she helps families achieve positive and empowering birth experiences.
