A coronial inquest is this week examining the death of Melbourne wellness influencer Stacey Warnecke after a freebirth at her home in September.
About 25 minutes after her son Axel was born, Warnecke had a postpartum haemorrhage (severe blood loss after birth) and without timely treatment, went into cardiac arrest.
The inquest is trying to determine why Warnecke decided to have a freebirth, in order to prevent similar deaths in future. It heard Warnecke believed a freebirth was the only way to have a baby entirely on her terms.
There are risks with freebirths that a trained midwife at a homebirth could pick up early and manage, or that would prompt a timely transfer to a nearby hospital.
Home births with a registered midlife linked to a responsive health system have a good safety record in Australia.
Midwives now provide more than 20 publicly funded homebirth services linked to public hospitals across Australia as well. But most homebirths are with privately practising midwives that families pay for out of pocket.
We don’t know how the statistical risks of freebirths compare with homebirths that have a private registered midwife or are linked to a hospital, as this data isn’t collected.
Women who choose to freebirth are more likely to have had a baby before (77%), be white and well-educated.
Freebirths seem more common in regions with higher rates of homebirths, where communities seek a more natural approach to life.
The recent New South Wales Birth Trauma Inquiry received thousands of submissions from women who reported their traumatic experiences. We analysed 1,213 of these publicly available submissions and found over 75% of reported birth trauma was due to disrespect, abuse or health care provided without consent.
A landmark Victorian judgment in March clarified the legal stakes of coercive maternity care. Plaintiff Larissa Gawthrop’s birth plan stated: “I decline all vaginal examinations unless there is an urgent medical reason to do so.”
When she arrived at Bendigo Health in labour, she was told she would not be admitted unless she agreed to a vaginal examination. After several hours, she relented. Bendigo Health was ordered to pay A$275,000 in damages as consent was not given in a free, informed or voluntary way.
This judgment, alongside the 2024 NSW Birth Trauma Inquiry, represents a significant shift in how women’s autonomy and informed choice must be respected.
Addressing systemic changes and behaviours would then reduce the numbers of women choosing to freebirth.
High rates of birth intervention in Australia is also leading to more birth trauma and fear about birth.
Likewise, the lack of birth centres and availability of homebirth without huge private fees needs to be addressed to provide women with safe and acceptable options.
Source: What drives women to have a ‘freebirth’ without a midwife or doctor? Here’s what the research says