NHS directed pregnant women to controversial Free Birth Society via charity | NHS
The NHS directed pregnant women to a website that connected them to the Free Birth Society, an organization linked to baby deaths around the world after promoting labor without medical assistance.
A number of NHS trusts are directing women considering a “free birth” to a charity website which, until Monday, referred to FBS podcasts as a source of “empowering stories” that could help British women “prepare for their own birth”.
It contained a link to the FBS podcast, which medical experts say is used to radicalize women through false information.
FBS advocates an extreme version of free birth, also known as unassisted birth. He advises mothers not to seek help from doctors or midwives and suggests they avoid pregnancy exams.
The multimillion-dollar business, run by former doulas Emilee Saldaya and Yolande Norris Clark, offers a successful podcast, Instagram followings, festivals and online schools for birth attendants.
The prevalence of free birth is low in the UK, but is thought to be increasing, fueled in part by distrust of maternity services and fears of an overly medicalised approach to childbirth.
However, experts have warned that many of the FBS’s claims are at odds with evidence-based medical advice. Saldaya and Norris-Clark described medical attempts to resuscitate newborns as a form of “sabotage” and claimed that doctors and midwives often sexually assaulted women in hospitals.
On Saturday, an investigation by the Guardian identified 48 cases of late stillbirths or neonatal deaths or other forms of serious harm involving mothers or birth attendants that appear to have been linked to FBS. In 18 of these cases, there is evidence that FBS played a significant role in the decision-making of the mother or birth attendant, leading to potentially preventable tragedies.
The Guardian can now reveal how the NHS steered women towards FBS content recommended by the Association for Improved Maternity Services (Aims), a charity which campaigns for maternity care in the UK.
Until this summer, the NHS webpage ‘Where to give birth: the options’ directed women considering an unassisted birth to an information sheet from Aims. When women clicked on the link, the fact sheet recommended the FBS podcast.
“The Freebirth Society is a U.S.-based network for women who want to give birth freely,” the fact sheet says. “They advocate a non-medical approach to childbirth which some people may find extreme and unpleasant. However, in their podcasts there are thought-provoking stories of unassisted births which many British women giving birth freely have found helpful in preparing for theirs.”
While the link to the Aims factsheet was quietly removed from the NHS webpage in August, online patient information leaflets distributed by several NHS trusts, including Cambridge, Gloucestershire and East and North Hertfordshire hospitals, continue to direct women to the Aims factsheet recommending FBS.
After being contacted for comment by the Guardian on Monday, Aims removed references to the FBS podcast from his online factsheet. A spokesperson said: “We were not aware of the serious concerns now associated with FBS, and have now removed the reference and link from our website. »
They said Aims “never recommended or referred” women to FBS, saying the podcast was listed on its fact sheet “as an example of material some free-birthing women used, not as advice or endorsement.”
An NHS spokesperson said: “The NHS does not support this company. [FBS]or its ideology that could harm women.
Kenga Sivarajah, chief obstetrician at King’s College Hospital in London, one of several experts who reviewed the FBS documents for the Guardian, said some of the information it provides to women is “dangerous and harmful… so for the NHS to direct people towards this is very shocking”.
Amid growing concerns about the quality of care in UK maternity services, a small but growing number of British women are reportedly opting out of professional services to choose alternatives such as free childbirth.
A 2024 study by Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, found that “the quest for a safer birth” was a key factor influencing women’s decision to give birth freely, as was their “distrust of institutional midwives”.
In September 2025, the Nursing and Midwifery Council published a survey of women choosing free childbirth. It revealed that 142 free births were recorded between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024 by 47 NHS trusts. This is likely to be a significant underestimate as not all trusts collect data on free births and many women do not report their intention to have a free birth to healthcare professionals.
Although the sample was too small to draw broader conclusions, 65 percent of the women surveyed said their births went smoothly without any medical intervention. Only 3% of women surveyed reported trauma or mental health issues after their free birth.
NMC data also revealed that there was one stillbirth and two neonatal deaths out of the 142 free births reported, although no information was provided on the circumstances of these deaths.
Some women choosing a free birth will have already received substandard care in NHS hospitals. According to the Care Quality Commission, which regulates NHS trusts, safety levels in almost two thirds of maternity wards in English hospitals are either inadequate (18%) or need improvement (47%). In 2024, the Birth Trauma Inquiry, led by then Conservative MP Theo Clarke, received submissions from more than 1,300 women who had experienced traumatic births in the NHS. “Although free birth is a first choice for a few, for most it seems to be the least worst option,” said Professor Soo Downe, a senior British midwife at the University of Lancashire.
The researchers also point to the mass closure of home birth services in the UK during the pandemic as a factor pushing women to give birth for free. “After Covid, services did not recover,” said Dr Claire Feeley, lecturer in midwifery at King’s College London, explaining that women sometimes chose free birth as a “back-up plan” because they did not want to give birth in hospital. “What my colleagues tell me is that in regions where home birth teams work very well, there are hardly any free births,” she added.
In its statement, the NHS said that although women have the legal right to choose an unassisted birth in England, “we strongly recommend using qualified healthcare professionals to ensure the safety and wellbeing of mother and baby – and if you choose this route, you can change your mind at any time during pregnancy – including during labour”.
FBS did not respond to requests for comment on the Guardian investigation. Following the article’s publication on Saturday, Saldaya released a statement on Instagram criticizing “mainstream news propaganda.” “That’s what it means to be a disruptor,” she said. “They will try to discredit you. They will lie about you. They will try to silence what they don’t understand.”
An FBS disclaimer posted in May said its content was intended for “educational and informational” purposes and was not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical problems related to pregnancy or birth. “For medical advice, consult your healthcare professional,” he adds.
