NHS directed pregnant women to network linked to baby deaths

The NHS has been directing pregnant women to a website that connected them to the Free Birth Society (FBS), an organisation that has been linked to baby deaths after promoting labour without medical support.

- Lucy Osborne Sirin Kale

Women who are contemplating a “free birth” were directed by NHS trusts to a charity website that, until Monday, referred to FBS podcasts as a source of “empowering stories” for British women “preparing for their own birth”. It contained a link to the podcast, which medical experts warn is being used to radicalise women with misinformation.

FBS advocates unassisted birth. It advises mothers not to use doctors or midwives. Experts have called the guidance “dangerous”.

On Saturday, an investigation by the Guardian identified 48 cases of late-term stillbirths, neonatal deaths or other forms of serious harm involving mothers or birth attendants who appear to have been linked to FBS.