The Birth Keepers

Two influencers made millions pushing what they called “wild” births: the delivery of babies without any medical assistance, including the support of a midwife. Now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world. A Guardian investigation examines the empire of harm built by Emilee Saldaya and Yolande Norris Clark:

Norris-Clark and Saldaya were sometimes careful to caveat their advice with disclaimers, stressing they were not qualified medical professionals and drawing only on their personal experience. They acknowledged there were scenarios that could be life-threatening, though presented them as very rare, and said it was a woman’s choice how to have her baby and whether to transfer to hospital. Yet they spoke with such confidence and apparent credibility that many women trusted information they only later discovered was medically unsound. In the Lighthouse forum in August 2022, a mother posted that her premature baby, who had required “an hour of mouth to mouth” resuscitation, was now struggling to breathe on her own. A medical professional is likely to have urged the mother to take the child to a hospital or dial 911. In her reply, Saldaya acknowledged she was not there, but said “all sounds totally normal … shallow breaths and gurgling wouldn’t personally concern me.”