Just over a month ago, Janet Fraser lost her full-term baby while giving birth at her home in Australia. A critic of modern OB/GYN care and a leading advocate of home births, Fraser opted to deliver her child in a “free birth,” a home birth unassisted by medical professionals. The irony of this tragic event — an outspoken advocate of home birth losing her baby during a home birth — has not been lost on the media, and the subject of home birth’s safety has received more attention in the last month than is usual.

It is easy to see the appeal of home birth to those suspicious of Western medicine. Many studies have reported that medical interventions, such as episiotomies, forceps delivery and Cesarean sections, are too readily used. However, it is medical advances such as these that have turned the single most dangerous event in a woman’s life — pregnancy and childbirth — into something routine. Not too long ago, it was common for women and their babies to die during the process.

A recent study presented at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies reports that home births have more than double the risks of complications and infant mortality than do births at hospitals where access to medications, oxygen and trained pediatric specialists are available. While Western medicine has its shortcomings and is imperfect, the risk to mother and child is much lower in a medically-assisted birth at a certified hospital. In the end, it does not matter how your child gets here or where he was born –only that you’re both alive.

SF Sexual Health Examiner: New study indicates hospital delivery safer for babies than home birth

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