Dying during childbirth in SF

Many, many, many works featuring women giving birth show the woman dying. While high rates of childbed deaths have been common in many Earth cultures, maternal mortality rates are even higher in historical and SF works.

Convenient deaths

In many instances the female character dies simply to give some motivation, plot, or character development to other characters -- for example, revenge (if the female character died because of some third party's action), heroically lonely angst, a difficult relationship between the parent (father) and his child, or a child + love interest for the father. If the mother dies in childbirth in one of the first scenes, watch for this.

The female character may also die because the creator wanted to focus on the father and/or the father-child relationship. In the film industry, which often targets an audience of young men, particularly for SF films, female characters are deemed by filmmakers (and perhaps the target audience) to be of less interest than male characters. Thus, movies disproportionately focus on male characters and are told through male viewpoints; extra female actors simply weigh down the plot and the acting budget. This too is a typical prefatory action that crops up in early scenes.

Important deaths

If the death is a focal point of the story, it may be a noble self-sacrifice on the part of a good girl or a redemptive act on the part of a bad girl. Characteristic language:

• "Save the baby!"
• "The baby is more important than me"

Examples:

• Darla (vampire) in Angel (episode -- )
• Switch (movie)
• Padme in Star Wars 3

See also

• Childbirth, labor, delivery
• Female character deaths

• Death by Childbirth, TV tropes wiki