02 March 2016 02 Mar 2016

Deliberately unassisted birth in Ireland: Understanding choice in Irish maternity services

In Ireland, some women who are unable to access a midwife-attended homebirth are choosing to give birth at home without assistance This paper describes the experience of four such women, whose stories reveal the context and larger case of the Irish homebirth service Background literature on unassisted or ‘freebirth’ is followed by an outline of current Irish homebirth services, illustrating the context of the women's decisions