Copyright theage
It seems extraordinary that in one of the safest and most medically capable nations on earth, where public hospitals offer care without charge, some women still choose to give birth without medical support. Their reasons are varied and sometimes understandable. A wish for autonomy, fear of medicalisation, trauma from previous experiences or the yearning for a birth free of intervention all play a part. Yet above these personal motives hovers a far more dangerous influence. On social media, childbirth is often depicted as a serene ritual rather than a biological event that can turn in an instant from joyous to catastrophic. Reports, though not yet verified, suggest Warnecke may have been influenced by unqualified “free birthing” influencers, who preach the virtues of delivery without medical help, in the weeks before her labour. For those of us who work in this field, that possibility is heartbreaking, for it shows how the careful counsel of doctors and midwives can be drowned out by the echo chamber of the internet, where charisma too often outruns competence. In these digital spaces, unqualified influencers dispense advice without accountability. They describe hospitals as hostile places and doctors as purveyors of fear, while presenting themselves as keepers of ancient wisdom. They post photographs of candlelit rooms, flowered birthing pools and babies sleeping peacefully on their mothers’ chests as if such moments were the inevitable outcome of faith and determination. What they do not show are the moments of panic when blood floods the floor, when a heartbeat fades, or when a baby is born without breath and time itself seems to stop.
