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I was really shocked at this! Women being arrested for planning homebirths and being forced into caesareans against their wishes and according to the court their human rights were not breached! I cannot believe that a man would be treated this way.

Which country?

Yes. It is excellent. A warning of what could very easily happen in this country in the near future.

Homebirth and midwifery is already illegal in many states of the US. Birth across Europe is verging on abuse.

I think that was Holland but I'm not 100% sure (I'm quite sleep deprived atm). It was a really amazing film looking at birth in different countries but it mainly focused on an amazing midwife in Hungary who was in prison for attending homebirths.

Can't be the Netherlands can it? They have a very high percentage of homes births, and I was told their midwifery practices (one to one care, good post-natal help) was very good.

X posted Sheela - my thoughts exactly! There were women in America being threatened with social services if they didn't sign a blanket consent form on arrival at hospital. One woman actually lost custody of her baby because she didn't want to consent to caesarean until it became necessary!

The forced section was Holland I think. She was accused of child abuse if she didn't consent (also happens in the US).

Agnes Gareb has been under house arrest for 18 months now. Her 'crime' is attending home births in a country wgete eomen have absolutely no choice and no rights around birth.

The film is going to be released in October. I really hope it gets shown on prime-time TV at some point.

Giving birth in the UK for me was actually like being in a horror film, not so much the pain, though obviously that isn't pleasant, but more the complete loss of autonomy over what was happening to me. The midwives treated me with contempt and I was assaulted by a doctor. I'm still too traumatised almost two years later to write a letter of complaint so the idea of the state taking even more control terrifies me and puts me off having any more children, even though we really would like more.

Labouring women are in a highly vulnerable position, and I feel that HCPs do not treat them with the respect and care they need. There is a campaign for universal rights of childbearing women, I think there are seven demands, and when I first saw this I realised I had been denied four of them, and I have heard far worse birth stories than mine.

Sheela, thank you. I've been googling to check what country it was in but I can't find it. I remember being really shocked when I watched it because it happened in a country that I thought was very pro homebirth. It was twins and one was breech iirc so the authorities had decided it was too risky to attempt a vaginal birth. I hope it gets shown on primetime tv too, it was shocking and inspirational in equal measures!

Allthegoodnamesweretaken I'm so sorry to hear about your traumatic birth. I was treated very badly with my dc1 which included 2 internal examinations and an episiotomy without my consent. I went on to have a lovely homebirth with dc2 which helped heal a lot of the old wounds. I hope you manage to move on from your experience. I totally agree with what you say about women in labour, I have never been so vulnerable and frightened as I was then and to be treated like a piece of meat at a time like that is so damaging.

I'm planning on a showing at work. I hope it will make colleagues sit up and think.

"Homebirth and midwifery is already illegal in many states of the US."

What is illegal is lay-midwifery, or rather midwifery practiced by midwives who aren't certified nurse midwives and who don't have the same amount of training or experience. The ban is to protect women and their babies.

And as for the Hungarian midwife in prison, from what I've read it wasn't the attending homebirths which landed her in trouble, but the negligent malpractice.

I didn't think that home birth was illegal per se in the USA - just that some States didn't allow any form of midwifery, so that a woman in one of those states would be on her own if she wanted a home birth.

Yes LaVolcan. Therefore midwifery is illegal and women have few rights over their bodies and their births.

Agnes Gareb was arrested when a woman attending an antenatal class had a precipitous labour. an ambulance was called. The police arrived before the ambulance did. This was witnessed by the other people attending the class.

Hungary has been found in breach of Human Rights for their laws regarding where and how women give birth.