Who wants a home birth?

A pioneering group of midwives in South East London reserves most of its services for women usually denied the choice within the health service – ethnic minorities, ‘high risk’ women and those with mental or physical disabilities. A third of their clients are on benefits and many more are grappling with heavy socio-economic pressures, yet they have one of the highest home birth rates in the UK – a staggering 75%.

In spite of overwhelming evidence on the safety of home birth, the issue continues to be debated

‘Ironically’, says Beverley Beech, ‘our experience is that women who choose a home birth are well informed about the safety aspects. They need to be because many practitioners ask them to justify their choice.’

Yet, the medical evidence, which is now substantial, shows that planned home births are among the safest births of all. In 1996, the British Medical Journal published a set of four research studies on home birth in the UK and other European countries. The overall conclusion was that for low-risk women, home birth is as safe, if not safer, than birth in hospital.

In 1997, the National Birthday Trust Fund published the findings of their confidential enquiry into home births. This review compared women who had planned home births with those who had planned hospital births. The findings included:

• The rate of infant deaths for planned hospital births was nearly five times greater than that for planned home births.
• Women who gave birth at home had fewer post-natal complications and their babies consistently had higher APGAR scores.
• Women who had planned home births were more satisfied with their experience and had fewer complications during and after labour.