Around the world, there are many birth workers who face punishments for assisting women to have the birth they want. There are many commonalities when it comes to the accusations, the disregards for a fair trial and the pro-medical biases of the system. But there are differences in the various factors of the particular countries and political systems in which these cases occur.
Mistakes can and do happen
Listing, talking about these cases and looking for the unfairness and biases of the system does not mean that mistakes are never made by the proponents and supporters of women’s right to choose a natural birth. All humans make mistakes, sometime we misjudge situations. The problem lies in the huge difference in treatment of those birth workers that work within and for the system, versus those who work independently. Blame culture, desire to punish and to cancel people is also a factor. Genuine mistakes do happen and we all need to do our best to learn from them. Unexpected tragedies and losses also happen and it is not in the power of any human being to completely avoid them.
Role of the media
The distortion of how media inform about events, often in a biased and sensationalist way, hiding the fact that they are only presenting one view – often the view which will get most traction and attention – contributes to the suffering of all involved.
Harm and death in hospitals
There is no doubt that harm and death occurs in all maternity hospitals around the world. Maternity hospitals, countries and states collect the statistics on this. Citizens organisations report further harm caused by disrespecting human rights and not following evidence-based care in institutions. As an example, in the last decade in the UK, numerous independent reports have been published on the harms occurring in NHS (state run and funded) maternity services and more are underway as I am writing this article. Yet there was not a single case of criminal prosecution. We are talking about hundreds of families affected by loss of a baby or a mother.
Many other countries around the world simply close their eyes when it comes to the harm suffered by women and babies in hospitals and don’t even investigate the systemic issues.
Those who stand on their own
The people named in this list are often individuals who do not have the protection of the system. They stand on their own, giving support to women and families. It makes them vulnerable. Cases of poor outcomes are reported on in the media but almost exclusively without any wider context of what were the woman’s wishes in the situation and without the context of what proportion of births which these birth workers assisted ended up in a poor outcome and how would that compare to an average hospital obstetrician or an average hospital midwife.
The search for truth and justice
I believe we have to keep asking questions and we need to strive for learning the whole truth, which as it tends to be, is not black and white. Our aim as humanity should be improving the lives of everyone, to live in truth and to support each other.
To the families affected by loss
I want to express my heartfelt condolences to all the families who lost their beloved babies or mothers. And I am sorry that the pain and loss of families is often used as a battleground for power and politics.
Mothers punished for adverse outcomes
The most shocking appearances on the list are the mothers criminalised for a stillbirth and a neonatal death after birthing at home. It is appalling that some states will prosecute women who suffer the loss of their baby. It is cruel and it is a misplaced use of power.
In some countries, there are strong narratives of women’s needs and wishes going against the interest of their unborn children and the supposed need to protect babies from their own mothers. Power is then being given to institutions to restrict women in their human rights. While cases of mothers wilfully harming their own children exist, these are rare. For the absolute majority of mothers and babies, those narratives are completely false. The interests of the unborn baby and the mother are aligned. Mothers have a strong instinct to love, protect and nurture their baby – it is indeed this very instinct that has kept human race alive for hundreds of thousands of years. It is always the mother who has the highest stake in bringing the baby alive into the world. There can hardly be more skin in the game than literary carrying the baby inside your body for 9 months.
The list
Agnes Gereb (Hungary)
granted clemency
Agnes is an OB/GYN and midwife who was attending homebirths, allowing women to birth naturally and who was then taken to criminal court for a poor outcome. She was imprisoned, she was under domestic arrest and she was eventually, after a lot of international campaigning, granted clemency by the president. She however still had to observe a 8 year long ban prohibiting her from attending births.
http://www.otthonszules.hu/agnes-gereb/
http://complexblank.org/anyadhogyvan_tarlat
Ivana Konigsmarkova (Czech republic)
acquitted, won apology and damages for unfair trial
Czech midwife, pioneer of homebirth, activist working towards friendlier birth services was hounded after a baby, born at home, suffered brain damage and died in infancy. The case went through all the stages of the justice system, lasted for years and eventually Ivana was acquitted of all the charges brought against her. The ordeal started in 2009 and finally, in January 2026, Ivana won an apology and damages from the Ministry of Justice for an unfair trial.
Zuzana Stromerova (Czech Republic)
acquitted
Czech midwife, activist, one of the founders of the Bulovka Active Birth Centre in Prague and founder of the Stork Birth House was accused of negligence for a case in which the baby was stillborn after her arrival to the woman’s home. She was acquitted after many years of legal battles.
Margarete Wana (Austria)
found guilty, handed a prison sentence, appealing
Margarete is a homebirth midwife, working in and around Vienna, persona non grata because she attends HBACs. One of the births she attended ended up in a forceps delivery in hospital and sadly, the baby died a few days old. She is being accused of gross negligence – because the birth was a VBAC and she looked after the woman at home. She was found guilty and given a suspended prison sentence. She is currently appealing the judgement (2025). She continues to have restrictions on her midwifery practice and apart from providing postnatal care to women, she also works in real estate.
Jurgita Svediene (Lithuania)
acquitted
Jurgita is a traditional midwife (she does not have a medical midwifery licence) who had been attending homebirths for many years when she was charged with carrying out illegal activities for money. There is a tradition of non medical midwives in Lithuania which continues until this day. While there are laws which technically allow homebirth with state registered midwives, there are so many rules and restrictions that in reality, women continue to seek unlicensed midwives for their homebirths.
During the investigation of Jurgita’s work, 400 families around Lithuania had their homes raided in search for evidence. Families that had babies born at home. Homes of pro home birth activists were also raided. Some of the home birth mothers filed a case with European Court of Human Rights (see article here) partly in reaction to the witch hunt against Jurgita. Eventually Jurgita was acquitted in 2018.
Dalia Jakaite (Lithuania)
case dropped
Dalia is a paediatrician who was charged at the same time as Jurgita. Her alleged crime was registering babies born at home. Her charges were eventually dropped.
Svetlana Akimova and Karina Rychkova (Russia)
3 and 2 years work colony sentence
Svetlana and Karina are two Moscow based midwives. They looked after a pregnant woman in 2018. She was taken to the hospital in early labour by Svetlana. Sadly the baby died of birth injuries after a C-Section. After 7 years of court proceedings, Sveta and Karina were sent to prison/work colony, despite not being present at the birth and having no influence on the outcome. Karina was released after 6 months, but Sveta remains in prison.
Lisa Barrett (Australia)
exonerated
A former homebirth midwife from Australia. An advocate for choice of birthplace. She lost her midwifery licence in 2011 but continued supporting women in homebirth as a birth advocate. A baby died in 2011 and in 2012 after a homebirth and Lisa was charged with negligent manslaughter. The supreme court found her not guilty. She left birth work and became a lawyer.
https://socialism.com/fso-article/women-and-midwives-unite-stop-the-witch-hunt
Oyebola “Bibi” Coxon (Australia)
Arrested, charged with manslaughter
Italian/Australian midwife attended a homebirth in October 2024. The woman went on to give birth by C-section in hospital and sadly her baby died. Oyebola was arrested and charged with manslaughter and reckless grievous bodily harm. She was a known birth influencer, she birthed her twins at home and shared pictures of her and her twins on social media. Since her arrest, her social media content has been taken down.
Gloria Lemay (Canada)
acquitted in 1991, arrested in 2025
Gloria is a childbirth activist who has been in the field for many decades and assisted over 1500 homebirths.
She was first charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm and criminal negligence causing death to a person in 1991 together with Mary Sullivan after a baby died following a homebirth in 1985. They were both acquitted of both charges by the Supreme Canadian Court.
In 1999 she was banned from using the title of midwife and doing midwifery work. The ban came on request by the Board of the College of Midwives of British Columbia.
In 1996 British Columbia started regulating midwifery, adopting Health Professions Act. The College of Midwives started operating in 1998. Until then midwives had a long tradition of working without any licence. Gloria Lemay refused to become licensed as she did not agree with some of the rules the College set.
https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/sc/02/00/2002bcsc0006.htm
In 2002 she was sentenced to 5 months in prison after breaking the ban by attending 10 births.
In 2005 she did not provide evidence to the coroner’s inquest regarding the death of a newborn baby and was therefore found guilty of contempt of court.
https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/sc/95/12/s95-1274.htm
In 2025 she was arrested and charged with manslaughter after a baby was born in 2023 and died several days later in hospital. The investigation is ongoing.
When her home was raided for evidence, the police and the College of midwives was present. Gloria filed a case against the college as they handled and viewed documents which they had no right to access.
Ricardo Jones and Zeza Jones (Brazil)
In prison
Ric is an obstetrician, Zeza is a midwife. They are both supporters of natural birth, out of hospital birth, respectful and gentle birth. They have been hounded by the brazilian authorities. Last year they were on trial for a neonatal death from 15 years ago, when a baby died of congenital pneumonia. They were both sentenced to 10 years in prison, convicted of murder – as an exemplary punishment.
Ricardo is in prison while Zeza was allowed to stay out of prison for their appeal.
https://therealnews.com/midwives-under-attack-justice-for-ric-neusa-jones
https://birthforward.com/ricardo-herbert-jones/
Angela Hock (US, Nebraska)
Acquitted
Angela worked as an unlicensed midwife supporting homebirths. She assisted a woman who decided to birth her breech baby at home. After some complication the baby died. Angela was subsequently arrested and charged with negligent child abuse resulting in death in 2019. Eventually, she was found not guilty in 2022.
https://www.nebraskabirthkeeper.com/angee
dr Ilan Halevi (Israel)
Due to go to prison
Israeli obstetrician, supporter of respectful birth, normal birth, out of hospital birth. He founded a birth centre Jahara Doula in Havatzelet HaSharon which operated for 15 years. The authorities tried to close the birth centre but he won a trial and the centre was declared legal. However the hounding continued. He was banned from practising medicine after accusations of negligence. He continued running the birth centre as a manager but was later accused of breaching his practice ban. And eventually he was served a prison sentence. He is due to go to prison in May for 3 years and he was also given a financial punishment. The birth centre building was sold by the authorities.
Another israeli doctor who supports out of hospital birth is Avner Shiftan. He is also being harassed by authorities. He currently continues his work.
Anna Rockel-Loenhoff (Germany)
Served a prison sentence
Anna is a german midwife and doctor supporting normal birth and homebirth. She was asked to assist a breech birth in 2008. The woman travelled and birthed in a hotel room to which she called Anna assisted her. Unfortunately the baby girl was born lifeless and could not be resuscitated. In 2014 Anna was charged with negligent manslaughter. Anna, a midwife with 30 years of experience,denied the charges. She was found guilty and sentence to 6 and a half years in prison. She was vilified by the media but she had strong support of women she supported in the past. The charged was changed from manslaughter to homicide. She spent 4 years in prison, then was released on probation. She was also ordered to pay damages to the family and court fees and received a lifelong ban on midwifery and medicine.
There are two documentaries which follow the story:
A radio documentary Death of a Newborn Baby – A Midwife on Trial and a film: Greta’s Birth (2024)
https://frauenfilmfest.com/en/event/hoerkino-tod-eines-neugeborenen-eine-hebamme-vor-gericht/
https://viktoria11.de/gretas-geburt/?lang=en
https://nrwe.justiz.nrw.de/lgs/dortmund/lg_dortmund/j2014/37_Ks_3_11_Urteil_20141001.html
J.S. mother, A. M. K. doula (Czech Republic)
Suspended prison sentence
In 2020 J.S.´s baby was breech and her maternity hospital insisted on a C-Section, which J.S. did not consent to. She freebirthed at home with the presence of her doula A.M.K. The baby died at birth, was stillborn. Mother and doula were charged with negligent manslaughter. The reason for the conviction was that the mother was aware of the risks of vaginal birth but still opted for it, she is therefore guilty of going ahead with vaginal birth despite knowing about the risks during her pregnancy. They both received a suspended 6 month prison sentence.
They appealed to ECHR – the case is ongoing
https://www.usoud.cz/aktualne/trestni-odpovednost-rodicky-a-duly-za-smrt-ditete-pri-domacim-porodu
https://www.usoud.cz/fileadmin/user_upload/Tiskova_mluvci/Publikovane_nalezy/2024/1-605-24_AN.pdf
Mother (name not public, she is a midwife by profession, Czech Republic)
Suspended prison sentence
She was recommended a hospital in Jihlava by her midwife, 150km from her home to birth her breech baby there vaginally. However when she attended the hospital, the on shift doctor insisted on a C-section because she was a fist time mother.
She refused C-section and decided to go back to her local hospital in Jicin. Her labour stopped so she went home instead and went to sleep.
When she woke up her labour progressed fast and she delivered the baby at home. The baby was born in poor condition and needed transfer to hospital where she was resuscitated, admitted for a month before she died.
The mother was charged with negligent manslaughter, found guilty, got a suspended prison sentence and was ordered to pay bill for the baby’s hospital care. She appealed to the Supreme Court and the case is ongoing.
A CZ charity Human Rights League is helping her and they are crowdfunding for the legal fees.
https://www.darujme.cz/volbaporodu
https://llp.cz/blog/zastavme-kriminalizaci-rodicek-za-volbu-porodu/
The list is sadly not exhaustive. Please let me know if you know more birth workers and mothers under persecution.
Midwifery by Lenka 