I just had to weigh in over here and provide some insight and statistics. I honestly think if more people were educated about the state of labor and delivery healthcare and knew more about homebirth, more women would be choosing to give birth at home or at least acknowledging that homebirth is a safe option (for most women). Obviously women who are high risk should not be giving birth at home.
Here are a few facts: most of my facts are not up to 2011 however, they are within the past 5 years.
2) Maternal mortality and morbidity is grossly underreported in the US. Many states have no law requiring the death certificate to state if the woman was pregnant or died within a certain length of time after birth. Research shows that the maternal mortality rate may actually be more than double of what is really reported. (There are countries many people have never even heard of that have better mortality rates than the US!)