18th Century anatomical illustration of a pregnant woman, possibly a plate to Gautier d’Agoty’s “Exposition Anatomique”, Marseille, Paris, and Amsterdam (1759). Source/Photographer The Wellcome Collection https://wellcomecollection.org/works/m5jaykde (Photo No. L0036026), (CC Attribution 4.0 International)
Women have died in childbirth since time immemorial. Complications can develop even in low risk pregnancies.
But the rate of maternal mortality has dropped 99% in the last hundred years, since the advent of prenatal care [1]. Prenatal care has likewise been crucial in reducing infant mortality [2]. Advancements in medical training and infection control were key to this.
Free Birth Society
The Free Birth Society founded by Emilee Saldaya promotes the radical concept of “freebirth” without medical assistance of any kind during pregnancy or childbirth, whether from a physician (even a female physician) or from a midwife. This supposedly serves to reclaim the sacredness of childbirth, and assert a woman’s autonomy over her own body.
The messaging resonates with women who have had traumatic experiences with maternity services or unnecessary medical interventions, and those seeking to live “off the grid”.
Maternal and Infant Deaths
Investigation has, however, linked the Free Birth Society to dozens of cases of maternal and infant harm or death across the globe [3][4][5][6].
Money-Making Goal
In point of fact, the Free Birth Society is not simply a misguided philosophic movement, but a multibillion dollar company.
Hucksters like Soldaya’s business partner, Yolande Norris-Clark, have made millions as online influencers while downplaying the risks of refraining from prenatal care, and disseminating false and groundless medical information, for example, that sonograms cause autism and ADHD.
Accountability
Medical groups are calling for consequences to “birthkeepers” who attend births posing as medical professionals while wholly untrained and ignorant of medicine [7].
These are not midwives who are formally trained and state-regulated medical professionals [8]. Nor are they doulas who may adhere to a code of ethics, and can be sued for malpractice, if they step outside the narrow scope of their role which is to provide emotional support and advocacy.
Biblical Standard
There are many verses in the Bible for, by, and/or about pregnant women and the children they carry. Here are just a few:
“For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him” (1 Sam. 1: 27).
“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb” (Ps. 139: 13).
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you…” (Jer. 1: 5).
“For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy” (Luke 1: 44).
None of these verses treat pregnancy and childbirth as anything less than sacred, since children are seen as a gift from God, Himself (Ps. 127: 3).
While emphasizing that God is the ultimate healer, the Bible acknowledges the value of medicine. Indeed, medicine and physicians are viewed as a blessing [9].
Persuading pregnant women to forgo that blessing in the interest of self-enrichment is despicable. Worse than that, it may rise to the level of criminally negligent homicide [10][11].
—
[1] BellyBelly, “Why So Many Women Used to Die During Childbirth” by Sam McCulloch Dip, 10/30/25, https://www.bellybelly.com.au/birth/why-women-used-to-die-during-childbirth/.
[2] March of Dimes, “2025 March of Dimes Report Card for United States”, https://www.marchofdimes.org/peristats/reports/united-states/report-card.
[3] The Guardian, “Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ birth – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world” by Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne, 11/22/25, https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2025/nov/22/free-birth-society-linked-to-babies-deaths-investigation.
[4] The Guardian, “Friday briefing: How the Free Birth Society’s philosophy contributed to a preventable death” by Karen McVeigh, 12/12/25, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/12/friday-briefing-how-the-free-birth-societys-philosophy-contributed-to-a-preventable-death.
[5] The Guardian, “‘She was like a deer in the headlights’: how unskilled radical birthkeepers took hold in Canada” by Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne, 12/19/25, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/19/she-was-like-a-deer-in-headlights-how-unskilled-radical-birthkeepers-took-hold-in-canada.
[6] LiveJournal, “The Birth Keepers: how the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world – video”, https://the-guardian.livejournal.com/238917793.html.
[7] ABC News, “Medical groups push for consequences for freebirth ‘birthkeepers’ posing as medical professionals” by Shannon Schubert, 12/13/25, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-14/inside-the-freebirth-birthkeeper-movement/106137044.
[8] Diffen, “Doula vs. Midwife”, https://www.diffen.com/difference/Doula_vs_Midwife.
[9] Bible Reasons, “What does the Bible say about medicine?” by Fritz Cherry, 11/24/25, https://biblereasons.com/medicine/.
[10] Legal Dictionary, “Negligent Homicide”, https://legaldictionary.net/negligent-homicide/.
[11] FindLaw, “What Is Negligent Homicide?”, https://www.findlaw.com/criminal/criminal-charges/what-is-negligent-homicide.html.
[11] FindLaw, “What Is Negligent Homicide?”, 3/19/19, https://www.findlaw.com/criminal/criminal-charges/what-is-negligent-homicide.html.
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This is shocking! I’ve had some horrific experiences with those in the medical field & tend to avoid them as much as possible. However even so, I know there are times that doctors need to be involved & pregnancy & childbirth are right there at the top of the list of those times. What on earth makes any woman think this free birth thing is a good idea?!
Very informative, Anna. I had not heard of this Free Birth Society until now. Knowing that the Internet can be a vast wasteland of lies and misinformation, it is no surprise to see yet another group rising up to profit off the gullible.
Common sense and reason are easily thrown out the window when so-called “enlightened ones” show up claiming to possess a new revelation, and that is the case with this particular group.
Why any woman would disregard decades of successful pre-natal care and knowledge in favor of what is no more than another money grab playing on their emotions is beyond me.
Of course, when God’s plan for pregnancy and birth is ignored, there is always a counterfeit waiting in the wings to fill the void.
Well said, Ron.
It scares me when a society goes backwards.
It angers me when hucksters make money off of hurting or confused people.
This story went in a much different direction than I expected. While I know nothing about prenatal medicine, I would be somewhat sympathetic to wanting to avoid unnecessary, or overly aggressive, medical interventions. But I had no idea this was centered around a profitable misinformation campaign. Of all the things/people to prey on people over; that’s disgusting.
We are so lucky to live in the era of modern medicine. Mortality rates have been very high until relatively recently.
Good post, Anna. I wish that we as a culture didn’t swing from one extreme to another. Abuse and needless hospital interventions are part of what has fueled the freebirth backlash. To complicate things even more, the US has one of the highest mortality rates among developed countries.
We were off the grid half a century ago and all my mother’s children were born at home, so you don’t have to convince me. I remember one little guy who was disabled from being deprived of oxygen, something that would have been easily prevented with even just a midwife and the option of some oxygen.
My personal feeling is that a lot of women get talked into freebirth, but it’s mostly used as a guise to save money. I’m all for home births, but lets get you some prenatal care, a midwife, a birthing tub, a doula, some oxygen, and actually put some effort into keeping you and the baby healthy.
Thank you for alerting us to the dangers of the Freebirth movement, Anna.
On top of that nowadays apparently having C section is not considered organic birth. Probably another propaganda by influencers.
However in India majority of the births tend to be C section…..which is a concern coz I read doctors don’t often give the time to each patient for normal delivery since the population is quite high. And also C section pays more.
When I was a tween in the 1980s, I grew up fascinated by the lady next door’s pregnancy. I was so distraught to find out that she and her hubby had gone into the National Park to have a freebirth and things went tragically wrong. When my turn came to give birth, I knew I wanted to be right where the doctors were – as little intervention as possible was the plan – but really, I would do whatever was needed to keep me and bubs safe. Sad post… but important.