18 If midwifery isn’t free, it’s not for all: what freebirth tells us about birthing freedom

Speaker:- Maria Velo Higueras

Facilitators:- Ekaristi Asti Kolanus & Wilson Soko

Abstract:- What happens when Midwifery for all, isn’t truly for all? In the UK, growing numbers of women are choosing freebirth, not because they reject midwives, but because they cannot access them on their own terms. This presentation asks: what does freebirth reveal about birthing freedom in the UK?

 Aim: To explore midwives’ experiences of freebirth and what these reveal about systemic barriers to birthing freedom. 

 Methods: a mixed-methods study combined interviews with 14 clinical midwives and a survey of 418 midwives. Data was analysed through a feminist lens to examine issues of power and autonomy in midwives accounts. 

 Findings: Freebirth is increasingly becoming a fallback plan when midwifery care cannot be guaranteed amid systemic pressures. While many saw freebirth as a resistance to medicalisation and wished to support women’s choices, they described navigating the tensions of working within narrower parameters of risk-averse and defensive practice. Midwives felt vulnerable when caring for these families. In a context of increased medicalisation of midwifery, midwives raised concerns about the rise of unregulated birth workers who may be displacing midwives as trusted birth attendants. 

 Conclusion: Freebirth is not a rejection of midwifery, it is a call for greater midwifery and reproductive freedom. If midwifery is not free from systemic constraints, it cannot be for all. Reimaging care to prioritise autonomy, continuity and trust is essential to enable midwives to practice without fear and to make midwifery for all a reality.

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