Yes, it did happen, but much less so today.
Your points are taken, but mine was that sometimes daddy has a responsibility to be elsewhere at the time of the birth. This is one of those times.
I was taking that point you made and tending to that (as it has been stated elsewhere, as well), not disagreeing that the man can do something else.
The “war” thing is totally apples-oranges though. He simply CANnot be there.