This mum gave birth in a car park. But it was dad who was hailed the 'hero'
It’s like a uni group assignment: you do all the work, and the classmate who hits submit shares your high distinction.
Imagine running a marathon barefoot on hot concrete and giving the medal to the guy who handed you a drink bottle.
That’s how birth stories often get told, where a woman’s pain becomes background noise and the man is hailed as the hero.
A mother in Texas gave birth in a car park this month.
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Dad got the medal for mum's hard work
On September 2, Angelica Martinez delivered her daughter outside Methodist Dallas Medical Centre after going into advanced labour.
Her husband, Luis Mendoza, caught the baby as she arrived. Surveillance cameras captured the dramatic moment before more than 20 doctors, nurses and staff rushed out to assist.
Remarkable, right?
Well, instead of centring the woman who endured the pain, risk and danger, the story applauded the man. The mother was written out of her own triumph.
A screenshot of a CBS News Facebook post has been shared on Threads, calling out the language we use around pregnancy.
Author Elizabeth Burke put it perfectly: “If I gave birth in a parking lot without pain meds and my man was hailed ‘the hero’ of that story, I would sue every media station on the continent. All of them. Every single one. I would not discriminate."
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Words matter in birth stories
Here’s what CBS actually wrote:
“A father delivered his own daughter outside a hospital in Dallas, Texas, after his wife was having ‘big contractions’ mere blocks away…” “Dad was the hero of the day,” a nurse manager at the hospital said. “He had already lifted the baby up and laid her on Mommy’s tummy.”
Let’s pick it apart. Red pen style.
“A father delivered his own daughter…” — Sorry, huh? She gave birth; he assisted. Swap the subject and you swap the credit.
Dad was the hero of the day.” — Huh again? Catching is not the main act. Pushing a baby out on concrete is.
Her experience was reduced to “big contractions.” That was it. The only mention of her body doing the literal work of bringing life into the world.
Dad was elevated to star status.
I don't want to diminish the importance of his support. His actions may well have helped keep his baby and partner safe, but he doesn’t deserve the headline all to himself.
Men can be supportive, loving, and essential. But the hero of childbirth is the person doing the birthing. Give her the medal.
Which is exactly why the language around pregnancy and childbirth needs to shift.
It’s like a uni group assignment: you do all the work, and the classmate who hits “submit” shares your high distinction.
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"The mother ALWAYS delivers the baby"
And the comment section agrees:
“She birthed that child; no one ‘delivered it’ she did it alone,” one person writes.
“Dad was the hero of the day??? Excuse me???? How about the MOTHER is the hero of the day,” another said.
A third added, “The mother delivered the baby. The mother ALWAYS delivers the baby.”
It might seem small, like grasping at straws. But words matter. They decide who gets credit, whose pain counts, and whose body disappears from the story.
When we cast men as heroes for showing up, we erase women’s labour. Literal labour. We reinforce a culture that downplays maternal risk, recovery, and even postpartum mental health.
So yes. Applaud men’s contributions. But not at the expense of making a woman invisible in her own story.
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Originally published as This mum gave birth in a car park. But it was dad who was hailed the 'hero'
