For generations, women have been told that pain in childbirth is simply part of being a woman. It’s what Eve brought upon us in the Garden, we’re told—the consequence of sin and the curse of womanhood.
But what if that’s not actually what the Bible says?
In this powerful solo episode of the Pain Free Birth Podcast, Karen Welton takes listeners on a deep dive through Scripture to uncover the real meaning behind Genesis 3:16, the verse most often used to justify the belief that women are “meant” to suffer in birth. She asks the hard questions, challenges cultural and religious conditioning, and ultimately reveals a truth that has set countless women free: God never cursed Eve’s body.
The Belief That Birth Is Meant to Hurt
When Karen introduces this episode, she names the tension many Christian women silently carry:
“How can I have faith for a pain-free birth if God says women are cursed to have pain in childbirth?”
It’s a question that has haunted women for centuries. Many have heard Genesis 3:16 quoted from the pulpit, in church women’s groups, and even in childbirth classes as if God Himself decreed that birth must be painful forever.
Karen remembers hearing those same words as a young woman and believing them. When she became pregnant with her first child twelve years ago, fear gripped her heart. She had heard the horror stories. She’d watched movies of screaming women in sterile hospital rooms. She’d heard her own mother describe excruciating back labor. Every message around her reinforced one idea: childbirth equals suffering.
“Childbirth has been used against us,” Karen says. “Little girls have been taught from the time they were young to be afraid of birth.”
That fear doesn’t come from nowhere. It’s inherited, passed down through generations of women and reinforced by a culture that medicalizes birth and dramatizes pain. But according to Karen, the real roots of this belief go deeper than modern culture. They go all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
The Verse That Shaped Generations of Women
Genesis 3:16 reads:
“To the woman He said, I will greatly increase your pain in childbirth;
in pain you will bring forth children.”
Most modern translations render the word “pain” the same way: as a description of physical suffering. But Karen began to wonder, could that word have been mistranslated?
When she looked deeper, with help from her husband (a theologian with a PhD in biblical studies), what she found changed everything.
What the Hebrew Text Actually Says
In the original Hebrew, the word translated as pain in Genesis 3:16 is itstsabon (עִצָּבוֹן). Its root word is atsab, which means toil, sorrow, or grief.
It’s used 17 times throughout Scripture, and in none of those instances does it refer to physical pain. Instead, it always points to emotional or spiritual hardship.
Karen explains:
“Nowhere else in Scripture is that word translated as physical pain. The only time translators used ‘pain’ in that way was here, in Genesis 3:16.”
The very next verse, Genesis 3:17, gives even more context:
“To Adam He said, ‘Cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.’”
That word toil? It’s the same Hebrew root as the word translated pain for Eve.
The Toil of Adam and the Sorrow of Eve
When this connection clicks into place, the picture shifts dramatically. Both Adam and Eve were told they would face hardship, Adam through his work with the land, and Eve through her work in bringing forth and raising life.
They both entered a fallen world that would now include sorrow, grief, and toil, not physical pain as divine punishment.
Karen puts it this way:
“What they were originally called to do, to cultivate and to multiply, became harder. But that doesn’t mean God cursed Eve’s body. It means that fear, shame, and sin entered the world and changed how humans experienced everything.”
The consequences of the Fall weren’t limited to childbirth. They touched every part of human existence, labor, relationships, identity, and even our awareness of ourselves. Fear entered the human heart for the first time.
Eve Was Never Cursed
One of the most liberating revelations Karen shares in this episode is that Eve was never actually cursed.
In Genesis 3, God explicitly curses only two things:
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The serpent
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The ground
He never curses Eve. He never curses her womb. And He never declares that her body would be condemned to pain.
That means the belief that “women are cursed to suffer in childbirth” is not biblical truth; it’s a translation bias that has been passed down and reinforced for centuries.
Karen explains:
“The translators chose to use ‘pain’ for the woman and ‘toil’ for the man. But if we translate both words the same way, the meaning becomes clear. Both Adam and Eve would face toil, hardship in their God-given roles, but Eve’s body was never cursed.”
The Redemption Built into the Story
Even in the moment of humanity’s fall, God spoke redemption.
When He told the serpent, “her seed will crush your head,” He was prophesying Jesus, born through the lineage of Eve, who would ultimately defeat sin and death.
The curse was never upon the woman; the redemption was always meant to come through the woman.
“God built redemption right into the passage,” Karen says. “Through her seed, the Savior would come. The very thing that was used to bring sorrow—childbearing—would become the vehicle for salvation.”
It’s a full-circle moment of divine design: the woman’s body was never the curse; it was the vessel of redemption.
How Fear Changed Birth
If Eve wasn’t cursed, then why do so many women still experience pain in labor?
Karen believes the answer lies not in divine punishment but in human conditioning and fear.
“Where does pain actually come from? It comes from fear,” she explains.
When a woman fears childbirth, because of cultural conditioning, trauma, or stories she’s heard, that fear triggers tension in her body. Tension constricts muscles, slows dilation, and restricts oxygen flow to the uterus. The result? Pain.
It’s what childbirth educators often call the Fear–Tension–Pain Cycle.
Karen teaches that when women learn to break that cycle through mindset, breathwork, and trust in the divine design of their bodies, they often experience less pain, sometimes even no pain at all.
“Your uterus is a muscle. Every other muscle in your body can work hard without pain, so can your uterus. Pain isn’t inevitable; it’s often the byproduct of fear and resistance.”
The Power of Belief
In cultures where women aren’t conditioned to fear birth, outcomes look very different. Karen points out that in countries like the Netherlands and Japan, where natural birth is normalized and not viewed as inherently dangerous, epidural rates are far lower, and satisfaction rates are higher.
“When you change the way you view birth,” she quotes, “the way you birth will change.”
If a woman believes birth is dangerous, painful, and something to survive, her nervous system prepares for battle. But if she believes birth is natural, safe, and sacred, her body responds with openness and trust.
This doesn’t mean pain never happens; it means pain is not the rule. It’s not the spiritual law we’ve been taught it is.
The Deeper Meaning of “Sorrow”
So if Genesis 3:16 wasn’t describing physical pain, what was it describing?
Karen suggests that the “sorrow” or “toil” of Eve may represent the grief that entered the human experience after the Fall, the sorrow of separation from God, and the emotional labor of raising children in a broken world.
“Every time Adam plowed the ground and every time Eve gave birth, they were reminded of what was lost in the Garden,” she says. “The grief of what life was meant to be.”
But through Jesus, that grief is redeemed. Isaiah 53:4 says, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.”
The very words used to describe Eve’s suffering are the same words Jesus came to carry, completing the circle of redemption.
You Were Not Born Cursed, You Were Born Created
The most powerful message of this episode is simple: your body is not cursed.
It was designed intentionally, beautifully, and intricately by a good and loving God. Every hormone, every muscle, every reflex in labor was built with purpose.
“Your uterus knows what to do. Your hormones know how to work. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. You were designed for life, not pain.”
This message has set countless women free from fear. When they begin to see their bodies as sacred and capable, not defective or doomed, everything changes.
Some go on to have completely pain-free births. Others experience less fear and more peace, even if intensity or discomfort arise. But all experience a shift in how they see themselves: not as cursed, but as created.
Pain Is a Messenger, Not a Punishment
Karen also addresses one of the most misunderstood ideas in Christian birth circles: that if you experience pain, it means you lacked faith.
“Pain is not a measure of your spirituality,” she clarifies. “It’s not good or bad, it’s a messenger. And the message is usually: it’s time to relax, to trust, to open.”
In other words, pain can serve a purpose without being punishment. God can meet women in their pain without being the one who caused it.
She adds:
“Yes, God uses pain to grow us, but He doesn’t need pain to teach us. He’s a good Father. He can lead us through joy and peace just as much as through hardship.”
The Freedom to Believe Something New
Throughout the episode, Karen invites listeners not to blindly accept her interpretation, but to seek truth for themselves.
“Don’t just take my word for it,” she says. “Do your own research. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Ask Him to show you His truth.”
That, she says, is what she did during her first pregnancy. She brought her fear and confusion before God, asking Him to show her if pain was really part of His design.
The revelation she received, and the birth experiences that followed, became the foundation of her ministry. Through the Pain Free Birth Course and her teaching, she has watched thousands of women rewrite their beliefs about birth, fear, and faith.
Redeeming the Narrative
The “curse of Eve” has been used for centuries to justify not only pain in birth but the subjugation of women as a whole.
Karen’s teaching reclaims that narrative, showing that the original design was partnership, not punishment.
“The enemy wants you to believe that your womanhood is a burden,” she says. “That it’s broken, that it’s cursed, that you are the weaker vessel. But God never said that.”
Instead, the Bible paints a picture of restoration, a God who partners with women to bring life into the world, both physically and spiritually.
A Kingdom View of Birth
Karen connects this revelation to a broader Kingdom truth. Through Jesus, believers are no longer bound by the curse of sin.
“We are new creations,” she says. “We are not subject to the laws of the land, we are citizens of heaven.”
That means women are not spiritually obligated to experience pain, sickness, or fear as “part of the curse.” Instead, they are called to live as overcomers, bringing heaven’s reality—peace, joy, love—into every area of life, including childbirth.
In this worldview, birth is not a punishment to endure. It’s a sacred act of co-creation with God.
The Design of a Pain-Free Body
When we look at how God designed the female body, the evidence of His wisdom is everywhere:
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The uterus contracts rhythmically to bring the baby down, with oxytocin acting as both a labor hormone and a natural painkiller.
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Endorphins surge to create a euphoric, almost transcendent state of focus.
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Adrenaline rises at just the right moment to give strength for pushing.
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The baby’s head molds to fit the pelvis perfectly, while the pelvis itself expands and flexes.
Every part of the process works in harmony, until fear interrupts it.
“When we get out of our own way and partner with the divine design, birth unfolds beautifully,” Karen says. “Often without pain, and often with joy.”
The Invitation: Trade Fear for Faith
At the heart of this message is an invitation, not to control birth, but to trust God’s design.
“You get to choose,” Karen says. “Am I going to align my heart with fear, or with faith? With pain and agony, or with surrender and gratitude?”
That choice doesn’t guarantee an easy experience, but it transforms how women walk through it. Faith reframes pain. It restores dignity. It rewrites the narrative of suffering into one of strength.
A Blessing for Every Mother
Karen ends the episode with a prayer, a declaration of blessing over every woman who listens:
“Father God, I thank You for this incredible woman. I pray that You would bless her womb, break off fear in all its forms, and fill her with faith and excitement for birth. Let her know her body is divinely designed to do this.”
It’s more than words. It’s an invitation to return to the Garden, not the one of shame and fear, but the one of original design. The one where God called creation good.
The Takeaway: You Were Made for This
The conclusion of Karen’s teaching is clear: women were not cursed to suffer; they were created to bring life.
Pain is not your punishment. Fear is not your inheritance. And your body, beautifully, miraculously, intentionally, was made to work in harmony with God.
“Everything changes,” Karen says, “when you decide that birth is no longer a curse meant to hurt you, but a blessing designed to transform you.”
For those ready to learn more, Karen shares this teaching in depth inside The Pain Free Birth Course, alongside physiological education, mindset tools, and faith-based practices that help women prepare for birth without fear.
Because when women understand the truth about their bodies and God’s heart for them, they don’t just give birth to babies. They give birth to freedom.
Want to Experience a Faith-Filled Birth Too?
If you’re ready to transform your mindset and birth with peace and purpose, check out the free Unlocking a Pain Free Birth Masterclass. Discover the 3 keys to a Pain-Free birth so you can experience the joyful, supernatural power of birth the way God designed it.
