VIDEO: Push for a ban on using ‘doulas’ during childbirth

NORMAN HERMANT, REPORTER: Pregnant with her first child in 2022, Richa Ekka was a true believer in the idea of free birth - until she experienced it. 

RICHA EKKA:  I made a very big mistake, and I paid a very heavy price for it. 

NORMAN HERMANT:  Richa decided to have her baby at home with the support of friends and her partner. 

RICHA EKKA:  Kind of thinking that hospital is a bit of an unsafe place in a way of this is where all the sick people go. So, when you're a healthy pregnant woman, why do you want to go there? And I was definitely believing that and very much influenced by that in that moment. 

NORMAN HERMANT: Living in Port Macquarie in northern New South Wales, she chose to use a doula who she believed was familiar with the birthing process and possible complications. 

Doulas have no medical training. 

RICHA EKKA:  I did think that the doulas would know positioning of the baby and use of doppler, so they would know how this baby was sitting in the uterus or in the canal. 

NORMAN HERMANT:  In December 2022 Richa went into labour at home. 

RICHA EKKA:  My labour was not very progressive so I would ramp up during the night and then it would slow down during the day, and my doula would only really come around for an hour or so to check.

NORMAN HERMANT:  After 50 hours on and off in labour, things took a troubling turn. 

RICHA EKKA:  I went to lay down and I had a seizure during my labour and during that time my partner came in and found me seizuring on the floor, completely blanked out.

NORMAN HERMANT:  Her husband called an ambulance, and Richa was taken to Port Macquarie Base Hospital 

RICHA EKKA:  I was very lucky that I lived 10 to 15 minutes away from the hospital. If I lived any further away I would not be here. 

NORMAN HERMANT:  She underwent an emergency delivery and was sent to the ICU to recover. 

Meanwhile her baby a little girl who she named Jia was suffering complications from oxygen deprivation and was transferred to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle. 

RICHA EKKA:  She was basically being kept alive on life support so that we could have some time with her so that we could say goodbye in dignity and in a way on our terms. 

NORMAN HERMANT:  Jia survived for just nine days 

RICHA EKKA:  Within two hours she stopped breathing. She did this really big breath right in the end. She just took this really, really big breath and it was really scary and beautiful and sad and heartbreaking at the same time.   

NORMAN HERMANT:  Richa now regrets making the choice to have a free birth 

RICHA EKKA:  I don't want other women to make the mistake that I've made and lose the way I've lost.

I know a lot of other women who've been through what I've been through, similar, different circumstances in free birth and lost their babies

NORMAN HERMANT: Medical authorities are sounding the alarm following a series of high-profile deaths of mothers and babies linked to free birth.

Zoe Bradfield is the president of the Australian College of Midwives. 

ZOE BRADFIELD, AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF MIDWIVES:  We are seeing deaths around the country, both maternal deaths and neonatal deaths as a result of women who are free birthing without a regulated qualified health professional. These are preventable and avoidable deaths.

NORMAN HERMANT: Midwives and doctors are now calling for health ministers to pass laws to restrict labour and birth management to registered and appropriately trained professionals.

Based on South Australian legislation, the new laws could carry substantial fines and jail terms. 

Dr Nisha Khot is the president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG).

DR NISHA KHOT, RANZCOG: We are not calling for women to be penalised for making any choices, including choices that involve a free birth, but we do want others who are present, who are not qualified to be held accountable for their actions.

NORMAN HERMANT:  In Queensland in early May free birth advocate and influencer Stacey Nightingale died after giving birth to her third child at home. Her son survived. 

In late September 30-year-old influencer Stacey Hatfield died from post-partum haemorrhage in hospital following a free birth at home. Her son survived. 

Both women followed free birth advocates on social media who extol the benefits of eliminating the medical profession from childbirth including midwives. 

 NISHA KHOT:  I think social media is a problem. The problem is you can’t really have nuanced conversations or discussions on social media. 

EMILY LAL:  And I think that if you're a registered midwife, you are complicit in and contributing to the harm of women.

NORMAN HERMANT: Prominent social influencer and self-styled authentic birth keeper Emily Lal is being investigated by the Victorian Health Complaints Commissioner for allegedly facilitating and or participating in homebirths which put both mothers and babies at risk. 

She was issued a prohibition order to stop providing any general health services in Victoria. 

Emily Lal has said she was trained by the Free Birth Society – a US based group with over 130,000 followers on Instagram and a podcast series with over 5 million downloads. 

NISHA KHOT:  When the Free Birth Society says to women that you don't need to go see a doctor or a midwife for any care throughout your pregnancy, that is wrong. 

NORMAN HERMANT:  Renee Adair is the founder of Womb to Tomb Foundation. She has trained doulas for three decades in birth and end of life care. 

Speaking for herself, she believes the proposed regulation is potentially dangerous.

RENEE ADAIR, WOMB TO TOMB FOUNDATION:  I'm deeply concerned that by criminalising essentially free birthers and potentially a doula or birth keeper that may be wanting to witness and support them without doing anything medical you are going to be pushed further underground.

NORMAN HERMANT:  Renee Adair says an accredited doula should never play any medical role in childbirth. 

RENEE ADAIR:  A doula is a person who has been professionally trained, who offers non-medical support, information and resources and hands on continuity of care before, during and after the birth of your baby. 

NORMAN HERMANT: Richa’s doula disappeared after she was taken to hospital. She says she never saw her in person again. 

RICHA EKKA:  She completely abandoned and betrayed us. 

NORMAN HERMANT:  Five months ago, life for Richa and her partner changed with the arrival of a healthy baby girl, Soleya. The birth took place with the help of a team of midwives and an obstetrician at her local hospital.

RICHA EKKA:  That's the path I chose this time around. And I'm very, very grateful and happy that I did. I think that we have this amazing system, we should really use it.