People Are Debating Whether or Not "Free Birth" Is Safe After a Baby Died During Labor

A "free birth" is when a woman has a completely unassisted childbirth experience. That means no trained professional is present, and there's no medical intervention whatsoever, including the use of drugs, monitoring, or scans. Furthermore, many women who belong to the free birth movement choose to have their child in a remote location outdoors.

Yvonne Butler Tobah, MD, an OB-GYN at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MI, told Buzzfeed that, in general, women who subscribe to this belief want as little intervention as possible. "This is a community of women who want the 'most natural experience possible' without medical intervention," she said.