If you take the rosiest possible interpretation of his meaning and ignore the actual words he spoke, yeah, he has a respectable point.
Let's go through the words he spoke, shall we?
UK professor Dr Denis Walsh said the pain of labour should be considered a "rite of passage" and a "purposeful, useful thing".
Hard to judge without context, but nothing particularly offensive.
Dr Walsh said the "epidural epidemic" sweeping maternity units should be abandoned in favour of a "working with pain" approach.
Journalists love their mini quotes. Again, no context, but what he says certainly doesn't seem outrageous.
"A large number of women want to avoid pain, but more should be prepared to withstand it," he said.
More. Not "all", but "more". He hasn't gone off the deep end yet.
"Pain in labour is a purposeful, useful thing which has a number of benefits, such as preparing a mother for the responsibility of nurturing a newborn baby."
This is probably where you guys take issue, right? But he's hardly saying the pain is essential, just that it has "benefits".
He said celebrity births and TV and film portrayals had contributed to a culture of pain relief as normal - even though labour pain was natural, healthy and temporary. "It has never been safer to have a baby, yet it appears women have never been more frightened," he said.
That's pretty much the interpretation I put on it.
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists president Dr Ted Weaver said some women benefited from triumphing over the struggle of childbirth.
[...]
"If a woman does get one-on-one maternity care from a midwife she is less likely to need an epidural," he said. "Maybe our maternity system does need to change a bit to allow that to happen.
And look! He's even got some backing from real live doctors!
Now, nowhere in there did he say that women who get epidurals are bad mothers. That seems to be a strawman set up, in the article itself, by his detractors. I don't necessarily agree with the guy, but I think you guys are stringing him up without much of a trial.
Anyways, I'm not going to get embroiled in a multi-page Real World debate, so that is my last word on that.