2025-12-12 – Health – www.theguardian.com
In today’s newsletter: A new Guardian podcast, The Birth Keepers, explores how a global network promoting unassisted childbirth has shaped women’s decisions around childbirth. One mother’s story stands as a stark warning
Good morning. Last month, we brought you the story behind the Guardian’s year-long investigation into the US-based Free Birth Society, a multi-million dollar business whose philosophy has been linked to traumatic births and even baby deaths around the world.
The society promotes a version of free birth (or unassisted birth) with no medical support that is seen as extreme, even among advocates of the practice. Unlike home births, which have a midwife in attendance, free birth involves delivering without medical help. The group influences women via podcasts, social media and online schools and, the Guardian found, advises mothers to steer clear of doctors and midwives, is anti-ultrasound, which it falsely claims harms babies, and downplays serious medical…