A US champion of ‘freebirthing’ always claimed there had been no maternal deaths linked to the movement. Is Stacey Warnecke the first?

Guardian investigation exposes full links between a US business linked to baby deaths around the world and Australian ‘birth keeper’ Emily Lal, the central witness at the inquest into the death of a Melbourne wellness influencerHow a Melbourne woman’s death is shining light on the dangers of non-medical births – Full Story podcastFind more from The birth keepers series hereDuring her time at the helm of a multimillion-dollar organisation linked to baby deaths around the world, Emilee Saldaya has always avowed one thing: she’s never heard of a woman dying after a freebirth.“I’ve never heard of a mother dying in childbirth in the sovereign birth world,” the Free Birth Society founder said in a December 2024 appearance on The Way Forward podcast, adding: “In the sovereign birth world we aren’t losing mothers.” Continue reading...