World-famous midwife demands prison release
Posted: 6 December 2011 by Rob Dabrowski
One of the world’s most famous midwives has urged Hungary to release a home birth advocate who was convicted of medical negligence.
Ina May Gaskin, a dedicated campaigner for natural childbirth, made the comments as she collected a prestigious award yesterday (5 December).
She called for the country to ‘stop the abuse and unjust treatment’ of Agnes Gereb as she collected a Right Livelihood Award – known as the ‘alternative Nobel Prize’ – in Stockholm, Sweden.
Hungary has tight home birth restrictions and Gereb was sentenced to two years in prison in March this year, following two separate homebirths, including one in which the baby died.
Ina May, from the US, received the international award for her work teaching and advocating natural childbirth methods in a society where medicated deliveries and caesarean sections are the norm.
Speaking before the awards, Ina May said: ‘A society that places a low value on its mothers and the process of birth will suffer an array of negative repercussions for doing so.
‘Good beginnings make a positive difference in the world, so it is worth our while to provide the best possible care for mothers and babies throughout this extraordinarily influential part of life.’
The 71-year-old is widely credited with having created the modern home-birth movement as well as inspiring the renaissance of midwifery in the US.
She is also the author of publications including the bestseller Spiritual Midwifery.
Together with her partners at The Farm Midwifery Centre in Tennessee, Ina May has assisted in more than 3000 unmedicated births.
Her work and expertise have pioneered midwifery education around the world and her ‘Gaskin Maneuver’ – an obstetrical procedure she learned from traditional Guatemalan midwives – is now taught internationally.
For the last ten years, Ina May has campaigned to raise awareness of the dangers of the use of misoprostol to induce labour.
She is currently investigating maternal mortality rates in the US through her Safe Motherhood Quilt project - a giant quilt featuring the names of women who have died in childbirth in the US since 1982.
