To think free birthing should be entirely banned

[StandFirm]

I have come across this article earlier which made me feel so very angry at the cynical extremists who brainwashed a mum into an entirely avoidable tragedy: https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2025/nov/22/free-birth-society-linked-to-babies-deaths-investigation
If I'd listened to similar cretins, I would have died in childbirth aged 19 and none of my three DCs would have been born alive or at the very least without severe disabilities. 'Pearls of wisdom' which gave me the rage include:
-ultrasounds are not safe
-women’s “bodies do not grow babies that we cannot birth”
Such ignorant perfidious lies. I hope the cult leader gets sent down for a very long time. That poor little child was robbed of a healthy body and many more actually died. I really hate the internet's ability to spawn dangerous cults entirely unchecked.

I don’t think it should be banned, it perhaps is a signal to professionals that a family may need some additional monitoring though ?

One of the tragedies highlighted in the article is that free birth can be attractive to women wondering how they can afford thousands of dollars for a midwife, so instead they are conned into paying a few hundred to a morally bankrupt free birth charlatan 😡

I don’t see how you could enforce it. Surely trying to prosecute a woman after the event would result in her saying that she had intended to go to hospital but the baby had arrived quickly and she didn’t have time to get there.

A friend had all four of her babies unassisted at home. She also refused scans. I thought it unwise, especially with the first one. It’s not a choice I’d have made (although I did have a HB for my second but was happy to have the midwife there), but my friend had done her research (I suspect from biased sources) and it worked out fine, luckily. I just don’t see how it would have been possible really to punish her for that.

Having had an unintentional unassisted birth, I honestly can't understand why someone would want to.

I agree with this. Target people promoting free birth, especially if they are making money off it somehow, like hosting seminars. Banning free birth itself will lead to the same kind of issues as banning abortion - you’ll have women who have already experienced trauma due to an unintentional free birth or miscarriage being investigated for potential crimes on top of that.

These people who run this were cynical creeps who clearly despised their own supporters. Tells you everything. Women and children dying in the process of giving birth does happen, and it’s silly to dismiss that risk because of some warm words on the internet.

The fact that they made up courses for their birth woo is the biggest sign that they are just greedy with a good game.

It shouldn't be banned as then you are shaming a process that is the norm in other countries. You free birth when there is zero choice or access to help.

I agree with your OP, I'd be dead well before my pfb was born as I had pre eclampsia, the cord around his neck twice and back to back.

But if he'd have been born ok I'd liked to have the option to have a home birth without interventions. I'd not like my choices dictated to me. I had four very high risk births due to pre eclampsia. All but one was induction. All but one my body absolutely could not handle the pregnancy before even going into labour. I had highly medicalised births which wasn't ideal but the last two was also lovely experiences. Dispite the drip and three midwifes in the room.

People need to know childbirth can go wrong. Life changingly wrong without scaring the life out of women at the same time. I was happy to surrender my care to a consultant as the reality was if I took the risk of having more children it could happen again.

Anyone who believes in this lacks the required intelligence and judgement to be a parent. It is child endangerment and shows an incredible level of arrogance and selfishness.

Surely the conversation should be about how we improve hospital birthing, which based on the quality of maternity units in the UK at the moment, isn't exactly risk free either. Mothers and babies are dying during hospital births, and suffering long term harm due to medical intervention.

Fewer women will want to free birth or birth at home if giving birth in hospital isn't frequently absolutely awful.

One way would be to have the “community midwives” who are sent out to home births working in the hospital.

Plenty of reading here after a few inquests

https://www.abc.net.au/news/search?query=freebirth

That would really improve the safety of those who can't travel to hospital!

absolutely not to ban any form of birth. Let’s not criminalise women here. Besides it is a human right to decline any and all medical intervention EVEN IF that cause of action might result in your or your baby’s death. (Have a look at BirthRights to understand human rights in relation to birth)

Women deserve choice over where, when and with whom to give birth.

The women making money out of misinformation should be held to account.

We also need to look at the policies and practices that push unnecessary medical interventions as well. Quite a bit of fear mongering and misinformation there too.

When it comes to birth, informed is best alongside individualised care.

First of all, if you have a standard pregnancy and there are no complications you already can give birth at home or in a hotel-like unit at the hospital where you will have minimal medical intervention. However, I cant imagine why anyone deliberately refuse medical help to be on stand by or at least would not allow for an intervention when things go wrong.

I was told I will have an issue-free birth but if I was not at the hospital both me and my DC would be dead. Giving birth is still a massive gamble, sometimes its easy, sometimes its not. I agree that women can gamble their own lives if they feel like it - but not children's life and health.

I have no idea how these free-birthers explain massive number of women dying in childbirth for the most of the human existence.

I don’t agree with free births or home births.
My fourth baby would have died, and possibly me too, had I had him at home.

If you can’t put your baby first during birth, then that’s not a great start is it?
Your want to have “your own bed and some candles” doesn’t trump your baby’s safety.

Feel free to come at me with your “HoME bIrThs aRE SaFEr” bullcrap that home birthers like to trot out religiously, I won’t be seeing it.

Won’t be reading or responding further as it’s too sore a subject for me and I’m likely to get personal.

This is already happening, at least where I live (and I have had a home birth). But there a mother and baby died recently with a home birth with community midwives present - who were inexperienced, over tired, and had turned up with broken equipment. She wanted to give birth at home because of an awful experience with a hospital birth.

The problem is that the medical care women get at the moment is so poor that birthing alone seems like a better option.

The medical care is the problem.

Why is your instinct to ban something that you think is dangerous but which is voluntary?

You may think you're being nice or kind but you're not. You're being demanding and controlling when you reach for legislation to ban something only a few people do (unwisely in my view but...)

Skiing is dangerous
Rock climbing, trampolining , crossing the road, swimming ... all these dangerous too and kill small numbers.

Better to address why some people can't get midwifery when they need it at a price they can afford...

Tell me you know absolutely nothing about birth 🙄🤣

Why not google the statistics on maternal and infant mortality before you spout such utter nonsense.

I dont think it should be banned though. In the article the issues that lead to women ending up joining this cult were clearly explained - medicalisation of births, unnecessary severe trauma and unavailability of free healthcare in some instances. I think these issues should be addressed, as well as how future mums can be educated and supported in their choices.

If anyone should be banned its people like the influencer, or another nutter who caused her daughter to die from cancer, or any number of anti-vax nutters - all these people who cause unimaginable harm, very often while profiting from it. They should be banned for sure.

So you had 3 children before you were 19? As if you had died with the first then you couldn't have had the others

If you read the article you will understand how far the Free Birthing movement is from the birthing emergencies you describe, and how it has been very successfully monetised by cynical women playing on other women’s hopes, dreams and ignorance.

And what about the people wanting home births ( with midwives present) if you send all midwives to the hospital?

You should not ban any type of birth. Ridiculous idea. You do know that in majority of cases pregnancy and birth are not illnesses

My DD had an unattended birth as she went from 15 mins contractions ( husband had phoned hospital and they told him to wait until 5 mins apart) to constant contractions, 2 pushes and baby out. Wouldn't have been able to get anywhere in that 10 mins. Strangely enough DD herself was born 12 mins after first bad pain I had

That is such an annoying argument. Birth doesn't need medical intervention if you are discussing the success of a species. You're completely right, we won't go extinct if an avoidable number of women and babies die in childbirth.

But most people have a lower tolerance of loss than nature does. Most people want their loved ones to survive labour and birth, even if humanity would carry on fine without them.

Humans also don't 'need' cancer treatment, vaccines, or any of the treatment offered at A&E departments. We wouldn't go extinct as a species if we started leaving victims of road traffic accidents at the side of the road, or shrugged when someone with asthma struggled to breath.

OP, I don't think we should criminalise free-birthing (though I personally think it's an incredibly stupid choice to make). Women shouldn't lose the autonomy to make decisions over their own bodies when pregnant, and it might prevent women seeking help if things go wrong. I do think we should put free-birthing advocates under tight scrutiny and bring legal action if their influence is found to cause injury or death though.

You pay for a private midwife and healthcare team.

Nobody is making you do either. I have done both. Hospital birth was absolutely awful. Loads of intervention without enough pain relief. Baby rushed to NICU. Extremely traumatising. I had flashbacks for months afterwards. Almost all of the problems were a direct result of medical interference. It's been almost twenty years and I still struggle to talk about it. Second was born at home because the hospital experience had been so awful, and it was straightforward and easy with zero intervention.

Why are you furious at homebirthing instead of being furious that giving birth in hospital is so dangerous and traumatic?