friends_friend's Journal

Scientologists Speak Up on Childbirth

Nara Schoenberg | Chicago Tribune
Posted October 18, 2005

Just when Tom Cruise was starting to look good again, we hear from the New York Daily News that Cruise's pregnant fiancee, Katie Holmes, is supposed to sign on for a "silent birth," without screams or painkillers.

Ouch.

But is "Quit yellin', it's only childbirth," as the News headline so succinctly put it, the true position of the Church of Scientology, of which Cruise is a member?

Not according to Greg LaClaire, vice president of the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles. Ideally, the mother is "as silent as humanly possible," LaClaire says, but this is an option, not a requirement, and the church recognizes that "absolute silence is not obtainable," LaClaire says. >>

The Scientology Handbook has more information on what Scientologists believe about the raising of children.