At least 13 babies have died following so-called freebirths in Victoria over the past five years, while a further 11 have suffered potential lifelong brain injuries.
The data, which was obtained from multiple high-level sources in the health sector, highlights the catastrophic consequences of women choosing to have an unassisted birth without any registered medical or midwifery professionals.
Doctors and health sources said most of these deaths and injuries could have been prevented if expectant mothers had been assisted by health practitioners during the birth.
It can also be revealed that despite peak medical colleges calling for a crackdown on unregulated birth workers, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia is not proposing any regulatory changes.
The figures obtained by this masthead are higher than data from the Coroner’s Court, which attributes nine infant deaths to freebirths between 2021 and March 2026.
This discrepancy is due to the new figures including full-term babies stillborn during labour – cases the Coroner’s Court cannot investigate because Victoria does not classify a stillbirth as a death.
The Age obtained and verified the data with three high-level health sources after the Department of Health and Safer Care Victoria refused to release data following a freedom of information request and multiple inquiries.
It is difficult to quantify how many freebirths are taking place every year because they take place outside the health system. But numerous high-level medical sources, say the number of freebirth deaths has significantly risen since 2021, and most of these babies would have survived if health practitioners had been present at birth.
“There has been a tragic uptick,” one of the sources, who was not authorised to speak publicly, said in relation to the freebirth deaths and injuries. “These are avoidable.”
The source said some babies born via freebirth experienced multi-organ failure because they had been starved of oxygen in the birth canal during labour.
“They need breathing assistance, and that assistance isn’t provided,” the source said.
In addition to the 13 deaths of babies, the data also includes one maternal death.
While the data is de-identified, the maternal death is understood to be 30-year-old wellness influencer Stacey Warnecke, who died from complications of a postpartum haemorrhage after giving birth to her son in a water bath at her Seaford home in September.
The freebirth was attended by Emily Lal, a doula who has since been banned from providing health services by the Health Complaints Commission.
Warnecke’s death is now the subject of a coronial inquiry that will resume on Tuesday.
A state government spokeswoman said no data was being withheld and legislation prevented some health data from being released to protect the privacy of Victorians.
“Everyone has the right to choose how they plan to give birth. However, without the presence of a registered midwife or clinician, the lives of a mother and baby can be put at risk, even for pregnancies that have been healthy,” she said.
In November, the Victorian government said it would review the South Australian model of birth-worker restrictions, which impose fines of up to $30,000 on doulas who perform restricted birthing practices.
This week, a government spokeswoman said Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas was seeking advice from the Health Department to “protect Victorian families”.
Dr Nisha Khot, president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG), called on the government to regularly release freebirth death and injury data in a timely manner.
She said this would equip women with information to make a safe decision about their pregnancy and birth.
“These are deaths that could be prevented,” she said.
Khot said she was increasingly treating mothers and babies who had been rushed to hospital with complications following freebirths.
She said the situation had left clinicians questioning their purpose and feeling disillusioned.
In November, RANZCOG and the Australian College of Midwives called on the Commonwealth and state and territory health ministers to introduce laws that restrict labour and birth management to appropriately trained, registered practitioners.
In South Australia, as in Britain, it is an offence for any person other than a registered midwife or medical practitioner to carry out clinical care during birth.
The state imposes fines of up to $30,000 and jail terms for doulas who perform any of 19 restricted clinical tasks during childbirth. These tasks include performing vaginal examinations, checking for completeness of the placenta and monitoring an infant’s or mother’s heart rate.
Professor Hannah Dahlen, a midwifery expert from Western Sydney University, said rising rates of intervention (such as inductions and caesareans), a growing distrust in medical institutions and birth trauma were fuelling a rise in freebirths.
“The vast majority of these women have had a previous experience where they’ve learnt to distrust the system, and they’re often very traumatised,” said Dahlen.
The pandemic has also played a role.
As hospitals enforced strict visitor limits and infection fears mounted, Dahlen said, the appeal of birthing at home surged among expectant mothers.
But a shortage of registered private midwives and lack of funding for home births meant that many of these women turned to unregulated birth workers and ended up having freebirths, according to Dahlen.
“On the back of that, there has been this rise of the wellness influencer,” added Dahlen.
“It’s almost cultish … People are looking for hope, distrusting the system and are looking to these people who are healthy and good looking. Life seems to be going seamlessly for them, and they give birth to their babies with no issues. They want that.”
She said while it was difficult to capture the true scale of freebirths because they took place outside the health system, there was enough evidence to show they were on the rise.
“All we ever see are the bad things. But we’re seeing enough poor outcomes to know something’s going on – we’ve got a real problem,” she said.
Dahlen worries that legislation cracking down on doulas will push women further away from health services.
“If we bring out a big stick, we confirm everything they’ve been saying about medical dominance,” she said.
She said improving access to private midwives and expanding hospital home birth programs and humanising birth would provide women with safer options.
Victoria delivers a public home birth program through Barwon Health, Sunshine, Casey, the Royal Women’s and Mercy hospitals.
Unlike freebirth, home births are attended by two registered midwives and are generally considered safe for low-risk pregnancies.
Associate Professor Gino Pecoraro, a senior obstetrician in Brisbane and past president of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said he was shocked by the data.
“Australian families should be angered that we have this degree of bad outcomes,” he said. “We need to do better.”
He said the entire maternity sector needed to be overhauled to improve access, choice and continuity of care for women.
Just 5 per cent of Victorian women who gave birth in 2023 received continuity of care for the entire duration of their pregnancy and birth through a midwifery group practice. This means they saw the same midwife for their entire maternity period. More than 55 per cent of women received no continuity of care.
An Australian Health Practitioner and Regulation Agency spokesman said the watchdog was creating guidelines for midwives that clarified their professional and regulatory responsibilities when working alongside unregulated birth workers such as doulas.
He said the watchdog was also developing resources to help the public understand the benefits of receiving clinical care from a registered midwife.
In January, The Age revealed that Safer Care Victoria had ordered doctors and midwives to support women who refuse medical treatment during pregnancy and childbirth, even if it risks permanently harming their unborn babies.
The guidelines, which aim to reduce birth trauma and help clinician navigate complex situations, advise staff to “respectfully inform the woman … that permanent harm may not be avoidable”, while continuing to provide support without intervention.
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Henrietta Cook is a senior reporter covering health for The Age. Henrietta joined The Age in 2012 and has previously covered state politics, education and consumer affairs.Connect via X, Facebook or email.
