A midwife in Utah allegedly presided over the death of a very premature baby after insisting that homebirth would be fine, interfered with an ambulance crew trying to rescue a hemorrhaging mother, lied on medical records, may have multiple dead babies buried on her property, and, nonetheless, homebirth advocates are supporting her; they’re raising money for her legal defense and even holding a benefit concert.
Why should we care?
We should care because it demonstrates that there is no will among homebirth midwives or homebirth advocates to institute ANY safety standards of any kind.
We should care because it demonstrates that homebirth midwives will NEVER hold each other accountable for even outrageous behavior, let alone simple negligence and malpractice.
We should care because #yesallbabies are treated as nothing more than props in the mothers’ and midwives’ view of homebirth.
We should care because #yesallbabies who die at homebirth are treated as unimportant collateral damage in the quest for “birth freedom.”
We should care because #yesallbabies are put at risk of death by the blind eye that homebirth advocates and homebirth midwives turn to the growing pile of tiny dead bodies.
We should care because American homebirth advocates and homebirth midwives are fundamentally unethical, promoting ignorance, arrogance and negligence.
But most importantly, we should care because anyone who has a heart cares about #yesallbabies who didn’t have to die.
Please speak out wherever you can and make sure that the babies who die at homebirth are #notburiedtwice.