An NHS midwife has voiced profound concern, linking the rise of dangerous 'free birthing' to a critical erosion of traditional, autonomous midwifery care within the system.
The Exploited Truth Behind the Free Birth Trend
Responding to a Guardian article about the Free Birth Society and its association with baby deaths, the midwife acknowledged a kernel of truth being exploited. The piece, published on 22 November, highlighted how influencers have promoted unassisted childbirth.
The midwife stated that the appeal of such movements stems from legitimate fears, including medical overreach that can blight lives. She affirmed that women can and should trust their bodies, noting that a healthy body rarely grows a baby it can’t birth.
Watchful Waiting vs. The Brutal 'Wild'
However, the midwife crucially differentiates between trust in physiology and the rejection of collective knowledge. She explains that while physiology is not a perfected endpoint, humanity has long acted to improve the odds of survival. Medical intervention is one part of this, but so is a vast body of life-saving social knowledge passed down through generations.
This is where the role of the midwife becomes irreplaceable. Midwives provide the kind of respectful emotional support that in itself can act as pain relief, she writes. A good modern midwife balances necessary medical checks, like monitoring for pre-eclampsia, with the human touch of holding a hand and breathing with a mother through contractions.
The core of their expertise, however, lies in 'watchful waiting' – being discreetly present to intervene directly or escalate to obstetric colleagues when necessary.
A Call for Accessible, Autonomous Midwifery
The midwife concludes with a powerful indictment, labelling the loss of access to and respect for autonomous midwifery a raging western misogynist tragedy. This descent into what she terms 'obstetric nursing' has created a dual crisis: it fosters heinous obstetric violence on one hand and pushes some towards the Russian roulette of free birthing on the other.
She posits that the solution to both extremes is one and the same: the restoration of accessible, respectful, experienced, autonomous midwifery care.
