this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2025
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‘She was like a deer in headlights’: how unskilled radical birthkeepers took hold in Canada (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 3 days ago by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/world@lemmy.world
37 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

FBS, which promotes an extreme version of free birth in which women abandon any form of prenatal care and give birth without doctors or midwives present, is estimated to have generated more than $13m in revenues since 2018. A recent Guardian investigation identified 48 cases of late-term stillbirths or neonatal deaths or other forms of serious harm involving mothers or birth attendants who appear to be linked to FBS.

(Yolande) Norris-Clark has not responded to repeated requests for comment about the Guardian’s investigation, which is told through The Birth Keepers podcast series. She has previously defended her partnership with Saldaya, saying FBS is “the most ethical kind of business you can run”. Critics of FBS, she has said, fail to understand the commitment to women taking “radical responsibility” for their births. And she has said it is unfair to hold her responsible for the choices of a mother who consumes her content.

Many of the women who follow Norris-Clark on social media, seeking advice in their pregnancies, are unaware of her more extreme views, which she sometimes revealed to FBS students. “I actually don’t believe that gravity is true,” she told FBS students in 2024, adding: “Maybe that just makes me crazy and that’s totally OK.” In another class, she told students they could cut a baby’s umbilical cord with an “old rusty fork”. “I don’t believe in germ theory,” she said, “I don’t believe in contagion,” adding: “But even if contagion were real … there would be a pretty much 0% chance of anything happening.”

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[–] Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works 32 points 3 days ago (3 children)

This is so interesting to me. I had a theory that a lot of the free birth movement stemmed from the financial barriers to medically supported birth in the US, and wanting to reclaim some kind of control. If it's their choice to not seek medical care it's empowering- if they can't afford it, they are disenfranchised. In a nation of "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" nobody wants to admit they are too poor for healthcare. Being able to curate an image on social media of how this is the "better" option- even if they convince themselves to genuinely believe it!- let's them keep self esteem.

Canada doesn't have the same financial barriers but we are so steeped in American media that I'm not surprised it's caught on here.

What I am surprised about is how are they making money??? What are you selling??

[–] scytale@piefed.zip 22 points 3 days ago

They sell books and memberships, of which the latter is expensive IIRC. Like hundreds of dollars a month expensive.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 19 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

how are they making money??? What are you selling??

Keyword: "social media"

It's almost like it's coincidentally at the center of every modern grift out there.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I had read a conspiracy theory somewhere that "freebirth" is all about being "anti-establishment".

In this picture, everything that has to do with the federal government (including being a "certified" medical personal) are seen as being "top-down", and it's "seeking independence" to reject that. That's why they don't even want any medical professional to see the baby, because they're worried that the baby is going to be implanted a chip to make it adhere to future state ideology or sth, and that can only be avoided by basically giving birth at home and not even telling the state that a pregnancy is about to happen (so they can't forcefully transfer the woman to a hospital), so there's a bit of secrecy about it too.

Personal comment/interpretation: I mean, it's interesting to watch how these ideas of "anarchy" and "self-determination" unfold here. It's very interesting to see how the same idea of "wanting to be independent" can manifest itself in completely different, and often opposite, ways. It's like if somebody told you that the establishment is bad, and you've heard these words your whole life, how do you know it's not true? How do you go to a hospital if everybody around you is wary of that and says they might want to poison you or idk what? How does a medical system (that is financed by the state) build the trust that it is actually safe to go there? How do you reach the people that don't know you yet?

[–] philpo@feddit.org 10 points 3 days ago

Absolutely. In central Europe, were homeschooling is often illegal, it's also a way of making sure the kid stays off the radar of the school system, the CPS, is not part of any society - and therefore cannot leave your scene.

Which is a wet dream of the sovereign citizens.