Birthing outside the system: the motivation behind the choice to freebirth or have a homebirth with risk factors in Australia

BACKGROUND: Childbirth in Australia occurs predominantly in a biomedical context, with 97% of births occurring in hospital. A small percentage of women choose to birth outside the system – that is, to have a midwife attended homebirth with risk factors, or a freebirth, where the birth at home is intentionally unattended by any health professional. METHOD: This study used a Grounded Theory methodology. Data from 13 women choosing homebirth and 15 choosing freebirth were collected between 2010 and 2014 and analysed over this time. RESULTS: The core category was ‘wanting the best and safest,’ which describes what motivated the women to birth outside the system. The basic social process, which explains the journey women took as they pursued the best and safest, was ‘finding a better way’. Women who gave birth outside the system in Australia had the countercultural belief that their knowledge about what was best and safest had greater authority than the socially accepted experts in maternity care. The women did not believe the rhetoric about the safety of hospitals and considered a biomedical approach towards birth to be the riskier birth option compared to giving birth outside the system. Previous birth experiences taught the women that hospital care was emotionally unsafe and that there was a possibility of further trauma if they returned to hospital. Giving birth outside the system presented the women with what they believed to be the opportunity to experience the best and safest circumstances for themselves and their babies. CONCLUSION: Shortfalls in the Australian maternity care system is the major contributing factor to women’s choice to give birth outside the system. Systematic improvements should prioritise humanising maternity care and the expansion of birth options which prioritise midwifery-led care for women of all risk.