Crowdfunding a Natural Childbirth: Yay or Nay?

When one of our fellow editors tipped us off to a surprising new trend she'd noticed popping up in her Facebook feed, we had to dig deeper. We've heard about crowdfunding business ventures, honeymoons, even medical procedures . . . but childbirth? It's happening — perhaps more often than you'd think. A quick search for "natural childbirth" on fundraising site GoFundMe yields tons of couples soliciting the funds necessary to pay for a home birth.

In one campaign titled "Our Natural Childbirth," mom-to-be Dori writes: "We are not health-insured, though North Carolina has been gracious enough to give me pregnancy-related Medicaid, unfortunately it only covers the kind of medical care I hope to avoid when it's time to bring this little one into the world. It doesn't cover a midwife, or a doula, or setting up for a birth at home."

If a friend, family member, or acquaintance of yours shared a similar fundraising page, would you be inspired to contribute? We're curious to hear our readers' take on this hot topic.